Offshore Oil Drilling

Recently there has been a surge of increased support for off-shore oil drilling in America's coastal waters. Zogby International recently released the results of a poll that shows 74% of likely voters now support off-shore oil drilling with 59% supporting drilling in ANWR (Alaska National Wildlife Refuge). It is interesting that majority support for off shore drilling cuts across party lines.

A majority of likely voters across the political spectrum support off-shore oil drilling, with vast majorities of Republicans (90%) and independents (75%) in favor of drilling for oil off U.S. coastal waters – more than half of Democrats (58%) also said they favor off-shore drilling.

Newt Gingrich has launched a "Drill here, drill now, pay less" campaign to take advantage of this increased support. Newt needs to realize that many of those that support increased drilling might not be 100% in favor of the manner by which he would exploit these reserves.

Meanwhile the left wing continues to preach against the evils of off-shore drilling as evidenced in this piece posted at VB Dems by Eileen Levandoski. Even a majority of their own base supports off-shore drilling but they are going to stand in the way of the freight train.

So it seems that some new leadership on this issue needs to be provided so that the end result does not come from choosing between two extremes. Yes, there should be increased off-shore drilling and in my opinion exploitation of ANWR as well, however this exploitation should come with heavy royalties paid to the American People for use in the encouragement of alternative energy. I think there is enough support for this position from amongst those in the 74% so that if the exploration and drilling is going to happen, it includes encouraging alternative energy.

Now we just need to find a standard bearer from amongst the representatives serving in Washington to provide the leadership that we can rally around. It does not matter from which party the leader(s) come, and hopefully we will find many leaders from both parties signing on.