Drill, baby, drill--revisited

Despite the House having approved a new bill on ofshore oil drilling, it now appears unlikely there will be a change in the law.

That means the current offshore moratorium on driling expires at the end of this month. Then it is presumed the government will begin the process of granting more leases for offshore oil drilling. Some states will welcome that, others will resist. And so this issue will drag into the next Presidency.

The inability of Congress and the White House to agree on the dirlling issue (otr much else) means there will also not be a renewal of the national tax credits for alternative energy.

OIL FOOTNOTE

In any discussion of crude oil and politics and economics around it let's all remember that oil is probably not being produced by the earth now in huge quantities (not being renewed) and that petroleum is a wonderful chemical with many uses having nothing to do with burning. Many fine drugs and chemicals depend on oil for their existence and our lives would suffer mightily if we were to ever burn all our petroleum. That said, it is certainly questionable that the highest use of petroleum is for you and I to drive to the mall by ourselves in a car that gets less than 100 miles per gallon.