Drill, baby, drill!

Shouldn’t the latest catastrophe embarrass the advocates of offshore drilling? It doesn’t seem to.

After all, the environmental risks from offshore drilling are completely under control.

Am I the only one who finds it extraordinary how little mention there is in the coverage of the latest catastrophe that politicians are running all over the country demanding that we do more of this stuff rather than cut down on oil use?

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com

9 thoughts on “Drill, baby, drill!”

  1. You shouldn't be, but …

    If you like symbolism we've had a Natural Gas (the almost completed power plant in Connecticut), Coal (WV) and now Oil rig accident / explosion that have all been deadly and out-sized failures - and all in just the last 4 months.

    But hey - those wind turbines sure could ruin the view, right?

  2. If we would hurry up and melt the polar ice caps, we could drill well away from inhabited coast lines.

  3. Am I the only one who finds it extraordinary how little mention there is in the coverage of the latest catastrophe that politicians are running all over the country demanding that we do more of this stuff rather than cut down on oil use?

    No. There are at least two of us.

  4. I've been saying drill baby, drill all week. I think I will double down on my mantra, for we are in agreement.

  5. New meme to spread (like an oil slick): "How's that DRILL BABY DRILL thing workin' out for ya?" (wink, wink)

  6. Just this morning I sent an email to environmental-action.org suggesting that they use some of my monthly donation to purchase ad space in Louisiana showing Palin, Giuliani, et al. chanting "Drill Baby Drill" at the 2008 Republical National Convention.

  7. Mark

    In fact, the exact quote being circulated is 'because those politicians won't let us drill close in, oilmen have been forced to drill in deep water where we have these accidents'.

    As if oil companies don't pursue drilling to the extractible limit, ie until the marginal cost of production equals the price of a barrel of oil.

    It is economic nonsense (if we drilled inshore oil then we'd just exhaust it sooner) but, no kidding, people believe this stuff. Just as they believe 'Drill, Baby, drill'.

    Rush has already blamed Obama for this debacle.

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