Bristol Bay up in Alaska is a difficult place for offshore drilling for oil to be done. The area is subjected every winter to intense storms with extremely high wind and waves that can be capable of wrecking oil drilling rigs. At the same time, that extreme weather makes it next to impossible for cleanup and recovery crews to deal with the resulting oil spills.
What’s more, Bristol Bay is home to huge numbers of fish that make a major contribution to the supply of seafood. The atmospheric currents that cause the area’s rough weather are matched by oceanic currents that well up nutrients, contributing to a biologically rich marine environment that is economically as well as ecologically a treasure.
So, what kind of idiot would be in favor of offshore drilling for crude oil in Bristol Bay? The Sarah Palin kind of idiot, naturally. In 2007, Sarah Palin supported George W. Bush’s decision to reopen Bristol Bay to offshore drilling. The bay was closed to offshore drilling after the infamous Exxon Valdez wreck. Sarah Palin is apparently eager to forget the lessons of that disaster.
The Bush-Palin decision to drill baby drill in Bristol Bay was so monumentally stupid that even honest Republicans opposed it. Republicans for Environmental Protection said that the Bush-Palin move “defies logic”. The group pointed out that drilling all the crude oil under Bristol Bay would only provide the amount of oil that the USA burns in ten days. They called the idea of drilling for oil in Bristol Bay “folly” that should make Americans “very nervous”.
Putting one of the nation’s richest fisheries at risk for just 10 days of oil – that’s the Sarah Palin idea of energy policy.
Sadly, now that Sarah Palin is the vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party, Republicans for Environmental Protection has gone silent about the insane energy policy Palin has promoted as Governor of Alaska. Before, the group said that Sarah Palin’s approach to energy “defies logic”. Now, the group is closing its eyes, putting its hands over its big elephant ears, and just pretending that there isn’t any problem.
How very Republican of them.
