Hillary opposes Arctic drilling. Yay.
“The Arctic is a unique treasure. Given what we know, it’s not worth the risk.”
“And I think we should not risk the potential catastrophes that could come about from accidents in looking for more oil in one of the last remaining pristine regions of the world.”
This is a big deal, a step in the right direction from the current administration, and a shining example of how utterly stupid it would be to elect a Republican president.
But she doesn't oppose drilling itself. Not that everyone didn't already know that.
The message is that drilling for new oil sources is just fine and dandy so long as it takes place in wastelands nobody cares about, like North Dakota or most of Texas; or, for that matter, any non-"pristine" area like the Gulf of Mexico.
Clinton's comments also leave space for her to un-hypocritically support the Keystone pipeline at some point, because lord knows there are no pristine areas between Hardisty, Alberta and Steele City, Nebraska.
The environment cannot absorb the burning of the oil already in reserves, let alone the new stuff coming out of the spigots in already tapped oil fields. There should be no new oil exploration anywhere, period, until the global burning of fossil fuels is reduced to a sustainable level.
We won't hear that from Hillary Clinton, however, because Wall Street and big oil simply will not abide. That is less a criticism of Clinton than it is of a political system that apportions disproportional influence to a bizarre coalition of the greediest individuals, largest corporations, and the habitually ignorant.