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It's time for an intervention. It's time for the people who care the most about America to pull her into a room and tell her she has a problem. Her addiction to oil is threatening her well-being. She needs to know that her addiction has adverse effects on those she loves. Hopefully, if we act soon enough, we can convince her to seek help.
There is no denying that America is addicted to oil. The past two days have seen a steady stream of proof that the addiction is worsening with each passing day. Yesterday, Representative Doc Hastings introduced a bill that seeks to open the coasts of Southern California and Virginia to offshore drilling. Rather than repudiate his misguided push to threaten our coastal wildlife and coastal economies President Obama had the following to say:
"In fact, we are pushing the oil industry to take advantage of the opportunities they already have. Right now, the industry holds tens of millions of acres of leases where it's not producing a drop - sitting on supplies of American energy just waiting to be tapped. That's why part of our plan is to provide new and better incentives that promote rapid, responsible development of these resources. We're also exploring and assessing new frontiers for oil and gas development from Alaska to the Mid- and South Atlantic. Because producing more oil in America can help lower oil prices, create jobs, and enhance our energy security. "
The oil industry has a dirty and dangerous history. This time last year, I would point to the Exxon-Valdez catastrophe as our case in point but, unfortunately, we no longer have to look that far in the past to see the history of pollution and the harm this industry causes local economies.
Less than one year ago, the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. The damage done as this one oil rig spewed for nearly four months is still being felt along the Gulf Coast. For many residents, the BP disaster destroyed their tourism season. For other folks, it put them out of work because they couldn't fish the Gulf waters.
It was a true disaster, and President Obama responded in the correct manner by removing the mid-Atlantic from future drilling plans. Now, his comments indicate a change of heart. True energy independence means breaking our addiction to oil.
What we need to do is to break this addiction and to move to clean forms of energy. We need our cars to go farther on a gallon of gas. More importantly, we need to invest in getting our cars off the road. We need a 21st century transportation system built on light rail inside our communities and high speed rail to link those communities.
Moreover, we have to end the corporate entitlement system that gives Big Oil companies more than $40 billion per year. We should invest half of this money into development of ultra-clean cars and improving our passenger and freight rail lines.
We can break America's dangerous addiction to oil, and launch new industries in the process. But, just like the loved one you send to a rehabilitation clinic, America has to be willing to work through the process. Ending an addiction is not easy, and we can't expect breaking this dependency to be easy either. But in the end, if we don't try it's not just America who suffers. It's all those who love and care for her.
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