The Senate has approved an oil and gas leasing deal for the Gulf Coast and not a moment too soon.
[thumb:332:l:l=x]Under the arrangement, 37.5 percent of revenue from new federal oil and gas drilling leases in certain areas of the gulf would be distributed to coastal states and 12.5 percent would go to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. That same split would be employed for all new leases in the gulf after 2017, according to aides. (thehill.com)
With the fallout of New Orleans and the aftermath of countless hurricanes from years past the Gulf Coast could use some profit sharing. I’d rather it come from sludge in the ground than my paycheck.
The cynic in me cant resist the urge to point out that the only thing holding up the offshore drilling is of course, politics.Â
While some liberals and conservatives have agreed that drilling is necessary nobody can seem to agree on where and by who.Â
If we can get the Senate and House to agree on state and federal boundries we might actually rid ourselves of the insidiously self-imposed fossil-fuel prohibition suicide-pact thats slowing starting to choke our wallets.