Virgil Goode continues with his partisan politics and finger pointing in his most recent edition of "Goode News"
The main thing preventing the United States from drilling for oil and natural gas on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico is the majority leadership of the House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate.
On July 10 th, 43 House Republicans, including me, wrote to the President, urging him to lift the Executive moratorium on offshore drilling. Subsequently, President Bush did lift the executive order on such drilling. Last month, the President called on Congress to work with him to lift this 17-year-old moratorium jointly. Congress failed to act, so the President did his part. In increasing numbers, the American public is calling for our country to make use of its own natural resources, even as we work diligently to develop alternative forms of energy. These alternative energy sources will help the U. S. lessen sharply its dependence on petroleum-based products produced by foreign nations, many of which are not friendly to us. In some cases, we are sending billions of dollars each year to nations that sponsor terrorists. We must stop this; it is past time for Congress to act and lift its part of the moratorium.
Well let’s just take a look at his bold proclamations.
Democrats are the reason no oil companies are able to drill on the Outer Continental Shelf, but wait a minute, wasn’t it President George "No New Taxes" Bush that signed the Executive Ban on offshore drilling in 1990? And Bush Sr. had a Republican controlled Congress at the time to back him. Come to think of it, the ban was actually put in place under Ronald Regan and renewed by every President and Congress since.
Next Virgil and 42 other Republicans ignored the facts and urged Dubya to lift that ban. The facts being offshore drilling would not make an impact on our domestic market until at least 2030.
More of the facts be damned mentality of the administration and the Republican Party as a whole.
Now the part about Goode’s "work diligently to develop alternative forms of energy" statement. Direct your attention to this short article from the Phoenix Business Journal dated June 27, 2008 about the Republican energy "diligence":
"The Bush administration has put a two-year stop to solar energy projects on federal lands in Arizona and other Western states while it studies their environmental impact. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Department of Energy will study the impact of solar energy production and other facilities that could be developed on public lands in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, Colorado and Nevada. There are 125 applications by solar energy companies to build facilities on public lands in those states. The review will take two years worrying a solar energy sector looking to expand in the western U.S. including Arizona. A number of U.S., German and Japanese solar energy companies want to locate or expand in Arizona and other Western states amid concerns about high energy costs and emissions. Critics have questioned the Bush administration policies and links oil and gas companies saying the administration is too cozy with those energy sectors."
Is this Virgil Goode’s idea of diligence? Since he votes with Bush cronies 95% of the time, the assumption is he supports the administrations efforts. While we’re at it, let’s look at Virgil’s record on alternative energy legislation:
On January 18, 2007 Goode voted no on H.R.6 the Creating Long Term Energy Alternatives for the Nation Act, Roll Call Vote 40. Then this year on February 27, Goode voted no on the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Act H.R. 5351, Roll Call Vote 84. In keeping with his "diligence" Goode again voted no on H.R. 6049 the Renewable Energy and Jobs Creation Act Roll Call Vote 344 on May 21, 2008.
It has been said that the way you judge a man, is to look into his soul. Virgil Goode has sold his soul to the highest bidder, big oil. How about we send him back to Rocky Mt, VA to show him truth matters, not partisan politics?