Oil vs. the Environment: What is the Tradeoff?

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:01 PM EDT

Article Source: prospect.org

us-news, obama, mccain, environment, oil, barack, gas, john, price, crude-oil, barrel, trade-off

Let's see, John McCain wants to drill offshore to increase oil supply and lower gas prices. Barack Obama says he wants to protect the environment and maintain the ban on such drilling. What is a voter to do?

Well, one piece of information that might be relevant is how much we expect the potential oil production to lower prices. After all, we probably wouldn't destroy a nice city park for a 0.1 cent reduction in the price of a gallon of gas, while some folks would destroy Yellowstone, the Everglades and everything in between to cut gas prices by $1.00 a gallon, so what are we talking about here?

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0.6

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SuperUnspecial

I'm still up in the air if about whether I think we should expand drilling for near-term, high gas prices... my gut says no, but ultimately it seems so close to a push.

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#1 - Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:14 PM EDT

{"commentId":2049902,"authorDomain":"tgolferman"}

tgolferman

It has been reported that oil supply is not the problem. It has been stated that refining capacity is the problem. Big oil has shut down refineries that we're supposedly inefficient without replacing them and Bush's Oil gang has turned a blind eye to that. So I guess McCain is not an option since drilling more won't do anything until refining capacity is increased. I'm also a little skeptical of the claims that Obama would rather protect the environment than figure out how to get us some economic relief in regard to fuel costs. I need someone to show me where Obama is quoted as against drilling if that would help.

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#2 - Wed Jun 25, 2008 7:03 PM EDT

{"commentId":2050238,"authorDomain":"SuperUnspecial"}

SuperUnspecial

This article quotes him as opposing lifting the ban on drilling in the gulf. But I'm guessing you want an Obama quote that validates the GOP characterization of Obama's position. One does not exist because their characterization is strait up wrong. This article helps put the numbers in perspective...whatever cost to the environment that opening up drilling in the gulf would have, it would only save us about $.03/gal

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#2.1 - Wed Jun 25, 2008 7:58 PM EDT

{"commentId":3603780,"authorDomain":"Leafgreen"}

LeafgreenDeleted

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Cheap vs Obsolete: Is the 'Oil Drilling Debate' Masking the Real Issue?	dailygalaxy.com	Sun Jun 22	1
Offshore drilling won't dent gas prices	InjunTrouble	Sat Jun 21	0
Truth-O-Meter: McCain's full of it (not truth)	Political Fact	Sun Jun 22	5
MSM Oblivious to Peak Oil	Gumwars	Mon Jun 23	6
Answer Desk: Offshore drilling’s impact	Associated Press	Thu Jun 19	2

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Oil vs. the Environment: What is the Tradeoff?

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