Offshore Drilling: Summary of Talking Points

I wrote these yesterday for someone who was about to have a conversation with the #dontgo folks. Seems like they belong here, with the photos of untainted oceans too.

1. The entire #dontgo movement is nothing more than political grandstanding, given that the absence of action (see this post for more details) unblocks offshore leases.
2. There is no obligation on the part of the oil companies who hold drilling rights on these leases to: a) drill at all; and b) keep the oil drilled inside domestic markets. In fact, with a commodity such as oil, it’s far more likely that the oil would be sold on the open market.
3. Even if the oil companies drill offshore and bring more oil out of the ground, it will have no impact on the prices at the pump, nor is there any guarantee of any impact for a minimum of five to ten years.
4. Refinery output is the bottleneck. We are not able to process what we can drill at this time, and there are no plans on the table to build more refineries.
5. Oil companies own patents to some of the best alternative fuel options, but are not doing anything with them. If they opt to drill offshore and exercise those grants, they should be forced to put the patents in the public domain.
6. If they were truly committed to lower gas prices at the pump, there would be unanimous consent to close the Enron loophole which allows for unbridled price inflation because of unchecked speculation.

Feel free to add to the list in the comments.

• ← McCain: Sold out to Big Oil
• How Many Houses Does McCain Have? →