For Eric, the environmentalist

Drilling off our coasts for oil is much better today and cleaner than Mother Nature. This article has some good insights, although some continue to ignore the realities. And I like these quotes from the article:

"The technology of the drilling industry may have improved, but offshore drilling is a dirty business, and it still leads to oil spills due to failed equipment, aberrant weather, or human error on a frequent basis," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said in the July 19 Houston Chronicle.

Feinstein is correct. U.S. offshore oil drilling is not perfect. It's only 99.999 percent clean. Since 1980 — as MMS figures indicate — 101,997 barrels spilled from among the 11.855 billion barrels of U.S. oil extracted offshore. This record should satisfy all but the terminally fastidious. and this

Ironically, Mother Nature is 95 times dirtier than man. Some 620,500 barrels of oil ooze organically from North America's ocean floors each year. Compare this to the average 6,555 barrels that oil companies have spilled annually since 1998, according to MMS.

Critics also dismiss offshore development since its benefits supposedly would take ages.

"You wouldn't see any full production out of any oil drilling off the coasts until 2030," presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama claimed June 20 in Jacksonville, Fla.

Currently mired in red tape, Chevron's Destin Dome field off Florida could produce within four years. Southern California deposits could yield within five to 10 years.

Before President Bush flies back to Saudi Arabia to beg sheiks to open their spigots, the U.S. should rely on our own offshore oil and gas. The fact we can do so more safely than ever leaves the Democratic Congress no excuse not to stand aside — now.