Energy Past and Future

Jonah Goldberg, writing in National Review (also printed recently in the Albuquerque Journal, made an excellent point recently in calling certain politicians on “failed policies of the past.” As Goldberg points out, at least when it comes to offshore drilling, “how does anybody know (if past policies like offshore drilling have failed) when we haven’t even tried?
Of course, the outer continental shelf is by no means the only place environmentalists want to stop drilling (they’re against it just about anywhere it is proposed), right here in New Mexico, they are protesting 43 leases made by the Bureau of Land Management.
Said John Byrom, president and chief executive officer of D.J. Simmons, Inc., of the concerted efforts of environmentalists to bog down the approvals process, “It doesn’t affect us immediately, but my information is that the challenge is part of a concerted Western states tactic.”
“They’re pulling out all the stops and they know how to play the legal game,” Byrom said. “It’s not surprising, but it is frustrating because they’re trying more and more to halt drilling in the United States.”
Unfortunately, unless there is a massive anti-extreme environmentalist backlash both in New Mexico and around the country, politicians will continue to feel like $4.00/gallon gas is okay.