Environment Policy Review

September Edition 2008

Off-Shore Oil: Let’s Debate the Facts

THE NATURAL Resources Defense Council Action Fund has taken out full-page ads in this newspaper and others to decry offshore drilling for oil as "George W. Bush's Gasoline Price Elixir" that is "100% Snake Oil." The environmental group calls on supporters "to stop the giveaway of our coasts." It is urging visitors to its Web site to send a pre-written letter to their members of Congress that says, "I am not buying the lie . . . that sacrificing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and America's coastal waters to oil drilling would make a real difference in gas prices -- either today or twenty years from today!" And the missive adds, "With just three percent of the world's oil reserves, our nation simply doesn't have enough oil to impact the global market or drill our way to lower prices at the pump."

The NRDC's arguments above neatly encapsulate the position taken by environmentalists and other opponents of offshore drilling. And they include a couple of good points. Contrary to the baldly political suggestions regarding lower gasoline prices by President Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), drilling would make no impact on today's pain at the pump because it would be years before any oil flowed from the Outer Continental Shelf. We agree that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, with its varied and sensitive ecosystems, should be preserved. In the quest for new sources of energy, there are trade-offs. That pristine area must remain off-limits. But there are three "truths" masquerading as fact among drilling opponents that need to be challenged...

"Snake Oil"

Energy Means Jobs!

Skilled Trades Seek Workers
Contractors, Unions Try Web, Schools; A 'Dirty Jobs' Role

Even as the economy slumps and unemployment rises, strong demand for power plants, oil refineries and export goods has many manufacturers and construction contractors scrambling to find enough skilled workers to plug current and future holes.

With the shortage of welders, pipe fitters and other high-demand workers likely to get worse as more of them reach retirement age, unions, construction contractors and other businesses are trying to figure out how to attract more young people to those fields.

Their challenge: overcoming the perception that blue-collar trades offer less status, money and chance for advancement than white-collar jobs, and that college is the best investment for everyone.

To highlight the benefits of a career in the skilled trades -- and, sometimes, the potential pitfalls of automatically opting for college -- unions and employers are turning to schools, the military, MySpace and even a 46-year-old former opera singer named Mike Rowe.

Nuclear Support from San Francisco

Nuclear energy should be in our future

It is not just a matter of skyrocketing oil prices. The critical challenges of national energy security, the threat of global warming and fading memories of past accidents have mellowed public opposition against a once-scorned form of energy, nuclear power.

The presumptive Republican presidential candidate, John McCain has proposed an aggressive expansion of nuclear power with a proposal of building 45 new nuclear power plants across the country in the next few decades. The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Barrack Obama, is in support of nuclear power as long as it was safe and cost effective.

The interest in nuclear generation of electricity is spreading fast, not just here, but globally. In May 2008 Italy announced that within a five-year period it will start an aggressive program of building nuclear power plants. This is a sea change in a country that closed down all its nuclear power plants in the aftermath of the melt down at Chernobyl a few decades ago. Similar discussions are going on across Europe.