Because of the Gulf disaster, off-shore drilling opponents have the upper hand -- and with good reason !!

Editor's notes: here is the sad political truth resulting from the increasing disaster in the Gulf. There are reports that 200,000 gallons a day are being spewed into Gulf waters. Estimates have us waiting for three months before this "leak" can be plugged but others tell us it is not certain that the leak will ever be stopped !!!!

We may be looking to a change in the Gulf economy and environment that will permanently defeat off shoring drilling forever. Understand that Midknight Review believes in the need for offshore drilling but recognizes that this event, if it destroys the environments of Louisiana specifically and the Gulf Coast in general, will supply an argument for environmentalists that will simply be impossible to overcome. This California based editor firmly opposes drilling increases off the coast of California unless and until all that can be known about the Gulf spill is known. Such is a change of position for Midknight Review.

Understand that there is a realistic threat to freshwater inlets and the wild life dependent on those water ways as well as the Gulf itself. This is an incredible disaster - far beyond anything any of us could imagine as possible. Cool heads need to prevail BUT the environmentalists have the upper hand on this one . . . . . . . . . . . . . and with good reason !!

There are huge oil fields located inland. We need oil. Folks had better start thinking "alternative drilling strategies." Whether off-shore drilling is revived or not, it is safe to say that we are looking at years in the waiting. -- jds

In a related article from Bloomberg, we have the following:

April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Oil spilling from a damaged BP Plc well in the Gulf of Mexico may complicate President Barack Obama’s five-year plan to open new offshore tracts to energy exploration.

The leak, which is five times bigger than previously estimated, prompted Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to declare a state of emergency, and led Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, to ask Obama to indefinitely suspend plans to expand offshore drilling for oil and natural gas.

“Obviously, what’s occurring now will also be taken into consideration as the administration looks to how to advance that plan and what makes sense and what might need to be adjusted,” Carol Browner, Obama’s adviser for energy and climate change, said at a White House briefing yesterday.

Administration officials escalated the federal response, declaring the spill of “national significance,” announcing immediate inspections of all deep-water drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and convening at the Department of Interior a meeting between government agencies and representatives from more than a dozen companies including BP, Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Halliburton Co.

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