This is why Senator Sanders is one of our best progressive leaders in Congress. He's decided to take action by introducing legislation that bans offshore drilling:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced legislation that goes far beyond temporary bans on additional offshore drilling permits. The Vermont Independent-Socialist is calling for the reinstatement of bans that expired in 2008, which would fully prohibit permits for "exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas" on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts as well as sections of the Gulf. In short, the bill would have the effect of essentially forcing the country to go cold turkey on offshore oil consumption.
"[Obama] wants a moratorium for six months. We want a permanent ban," Sanders said, in a call announcing his legislation. "I think the president is probably seriously regretting the fact that he lifted the moratorium... he is right to re-impose the moratorium as a time out."
And for those who worry about the effect this would have on "oil junkies," here's a provision Senator Sanders has added to the bill that would help with oil addiction:
To compensate for the drop in domestic energy supplies, Sanders attaches to his bill a provision calling for the increase in fuel-mileage standards for automobiles -- with the goal set at an ambitious 55 miles per gallon by 2030.
"The limited benefits of continued offshore drilling are outweighed by the substantial risks of offshore drilling; there are cleaner and safer ways to reduce the price of gasoline than offshore drilling, such as strong fuel economy standards," he writes.
Bravo, Senator Sanders. Thank you for taking action on the oil spill! Here's more on why we should ban offshore drilling. For instance, John Dorn at the Earth Policy Institute writes that:
As he wrote, "Geological and economic realities make clear that drilling for oil cannot make the U.S. energy independent or reduce gasoline prices. Drilling is an expensive and dangerous red herring, especially because far better options exist."
Here are the current facts on offshore drilling from Treehugger.com:
1. Offshore drilling currently accounts for 30 percent of total U.S. oil production.
2. The United States currently produces approximately 1.5 millions barrels of oil per day from offshore drilling, and consumes nearly 21 million barrels of oil per day.
3. The United States currently consumes nearly 8 billion barrels of oil per year.
4. The Minerals Management Service estimated there were 76 billion barrels of "remaining undiscovered technically recoverable" oil in U.S. offshore regions, but this estimate represents the "potential hydrocarbons of an area that can be produced using current technology, without any consideration to economic feasibility." Of this 76 billion barrels, 18 billion are considered "conventionally recoverable." Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Overview report.
5. One barrel equals 42 gallons of crude oil.
6. Of the crude oil consumed in the U.S., 66 percent is imported.
7. U.S. oil production currently occurs onshore in the lower 48 states (2.9 million barrels per day), offshore (1.4 million barrels per day primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, plus 0.7 million barrels per day off Alaska).
8. Lifting the moratoria on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) would reduce the price of a gallon of gasoline by at most a few cents—and this would not be seen for at least another decade.
9. Oil is traded as a global commodity and its price is set on the world market. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could simply reduce exports to negate even the nominal potential price reduction.
Read that bolded sentence again---the U.S. currently produces approximately 1.5 millions barrels of oil per day from offshore drilling. Here are the solutions that we can take today that would remove our dependence on offshore drilling:
We Can Move Beyond Oil
- The increase in U.S. automobile fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon of gasoline mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 is projected to save more than 1.1 million barrels of oil per day in 2020--roughly half of current U.S. imports from the Persian Gulf. Technology exists to raise standards higher faster.
- Electrifying the U.S. transportation system and restructuring urban transport could reduce petroleum consumption by over 50 percent, nearly eliminating the need for imports.
- Wind-generated electricity could power plug-in hybrid cars, such as GM's prototype Chevy Volt, at the equivalent of less than $1 per gallon of gasoline.
We can return to the moratorium on offshore drilling which Congress supported from 1982 to 2008 by supporting the Clean Coasts and Efficient Cars Act of 2010:
A moratorium on drilling in those areas that Congress approved every year since 1982 lapsed in 2008.
The Clean Coasts and Efficient Cars Act of 2010 is supported by Friends of the Earth, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Oceana.
Please CALL your Senator and ask them to support Sander's Clean Coasts and Efficient Cars Act of 2010 by becoming a co-sponsor!
And it's not just Senator Sanders that is taking action on the oil spill, one of our progressive leaders in the House has done so by introducing H.R. 5355. Who's this representative, and what does this bill do? I'll let the op-ed by Representative Grijalva, the original sponsor of H.R. 5355, speak for itself:
BP will pay for the Gulf cleanup, which some experts estimate could cost as much as $14 billion. The effort will take years. But the damage done extends far beyond the environment. Fisherman cannot fish. Tourists are not visiting the hotels or beaches. Restaurants and other small businesses are losing customers left and right, and the tide of oil shows no signs of stopping. The economic life of the Gulf has been devastated. Yet the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 limits the liability of parties responsible for offshore oil spills to cleanup costs, plus $75 million in economic damages. $75 million will not even scratch the surface of the long-term economic damages that Horizon has wrought.
That's why, last week, I introduced HR 5355. The "no cap" bill would completely eliminate the arbitrary $75 million liability cap, because the best way to ensure responsible behavior is to make corporations responsible for their actions. They benefit when things are going well, so why should taxpayers take the hit when things go badly? A single dollar of public money spent to clean up after BP is one dollar too many. When the bottom line is at stake, industry will change its behavior for the better. Any cap we place on economic compensation is inherently arbitrary, so let's not have one.
Hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in revenue will be lost as a result of BP's careless actions. Livelihoods will be put on hold or simply destroyed. Under current law, BP will only have to pay for a fraction of the damage -- yet the company is still blocking journalist access to affected beaches for fear of exposure. It's time to demand greater responsibility and accountability from the oil industry. Only when these multi-billion dollar companies are forced to bear the full costs of their actions will they take safety seriously. Let's send a simple, responsible message to Big Oil: "You break it, you buy it."
Please CALL your Representative at (202) 224-3121 and ask him or her to become a co-sponsor of Rep. Grijalva's bill, H.R. 5355, to lift the $75 million liability cap.
That's what you can do today in taking action on the oil spill. Make those phone calls in support of Clean Coasts and Efficient Cars Act of 2010, and H.R. 5355. These are good, solid progressive proposals to a major problem, and they deserve our support.
So, get to it, kossacks, and CALL TODAY!