I'm disappointed to hear any talk of drilling for more oil off our coasts especially from Obama. If he's going to agree to any drilling, I wish he'd say something like this...
America’s coastal land and water, like our mountain ranges and forests, our lakes and rivers, are part of the commonwealth of our country. The wealth that we all hold in common and can all access. Our commonwealth is what creates so much opportunity in this country. We strive to maintain our natural resources and our environment for every American and for future generations of Americans because they belong to all of us. In a deep sense, we all own and share responsibility for them, just as every American owns and shares responsibility for the national parks. Indeed even the White House is owned by the American people, who decide every four years who they will allow to reside there.
So the question of whether or not we should drill for oil has come up, pushed by McCain and his conservative backers. Few would dispute that looking for oil off our coasts will produce little effect on current gas prices and could take as much as ten years to produce anything. Nonetheless, if as Americans we choose this path, we should be clear about our rights and responsibilities.
We should be clear that just as we are merely lending the white house to the next President we will be lending our coasts to Big Oil and as such what oil may be found in our coastal areas belongs to the American people. Not sold to China or India or other nations on the global market, not to put massive profits into the pockets of Corporate elite and political lobbyists. I propose that the resources go to the American people exclusively and belong to all of us in perpetuity. That furthermore, the cost be one found to be reasonable by the people. After all, there can’t be any drilling at all, unless we allow it.
Of course, with this right comes responsibility. We must keep these coastal areas clean for all of us now and for future generations. We must work to eliminate the need to endanger them with drilling by investing in green energy and the green economy, which will also creates more jobs and more opportunity.
Of course, John McCain, and other conservatives, and the Big Oil lobbyists will attack this idea. They’ll say it’s impossible. They’ll say that Americans have no right to expect to receive the oil off our own shores. Think about that for a second. Why should we let Global Oil Corporations to drill off our shores but expect nothing in return? But that’s exactly what McCain and other conservatives are proposing. They are saying, America, give Big Oil access to your shores and maybe, one day-- if you have enough money-- you’ll get some of what they find. It’s not surprising of course, Big Oil lobbyists have a lot of influence in McCain’s campaign and in the Bush Administration. McCain and President Bush want to put a little more money, maybe a lot more, in their corporate friends’ pockets. What they won’t ever admit is that it comes at the expense of all the rest of us and future generations as well.
So again, if we choose, we can lend the Oil corporations our coastal shores, but with the reminder that they are borrowing them at our pleasure. The American people own them. The American people deserve the oil that may be found and have a right to determine the manner in which it’s distributed.