NY-27: Brian Higgins Needs To Face Reality on Drilling
by Matt at Aug 23rd, 2008
Yesterday, Rep. Brian Higgins argued that the current downward trend of gas prices means we do not need to drill for our own oil.
Rep. Brian Higgins said Friday he doesn’t oppose drilling for more oil but questioned the utility of that as a near-term solution to high fuel prices and said oil companies already have drilling rights they’re not taking advantage of.
Higgins’ comments came in an appearance before members of the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce at the Chautauqua Country Club. The congressman addressed questions from the floor including issues about rising fuel costs.
“We need serious energy policies that wean us off of our addiction to oil,” said Higgins, D-Buffalo.
While he was not opposed to drilling — a practice being championed by some Republicans — he questioned the practices of oil companies who already have the rights to drill on millions of acres in the United States.
Higgins also said the impact of finding new oil would not be realized by consumers for 10 to 15 years.
It sounds to me as though he is opposed to more drilling, but with polls showing a large majority of Americans support offshore drilling, he’s trying to soften his public position.
Of course, what he doesn’t seem to understand is that gas prices really started to go down when President Bush called on congress to open up off-shore drilling. It’s all fine and good to say we need to look into alternative sources of energy, but we cannot pretend that such a solution is just around the corner, or that we can afford to ignore our own vast untapped resources of oil. If we began oil exploration and drilling in the United States, prices would drop significantly. We can work towards alternative sources energy, but we cannot ignore the reality that so much of our country’s economy relies on oil and we need to find more sources of it.
To research and develop viable alternative sources of energy without drilling for our own oil in the interim keeps us sending money to terrorist-funding countries. Is that what Brian Higgins wants?