NC House Republicans pass bill in support of off-shore drilling, gas fracking

[seafan]

These guys are madder than rabid animals over Governor Perdue's budget veto yesterday.

And they are out for blood.



House passes bill in support of off-shore drilling, gas fracking

Submitted by mbieseck on 2011-06-13 20:51

In a largely party-line vote, the state House approved a Republican-backed bill that rewrites state energy policy to promote and approve of the drilling of natural gas on land and off the coast.

Supporters of Senate Bill 709 said drilling would create revenue for the cash-strapped state government and jobs for North Carolinians by creating a regulatory atmosphere that is more "pro business."

Republican lawmakers brushed aside concerns raised by Democrats about the potential for an off-shore spill to negatively impact coastal tourism and the possible contamination of drinking wells through the use of a controversial gas drilling technique that relies on the hydraulic fracturing underground rock, known as fracking.

"It's time to get crackin' on frackin'," said an enthusiastic Rep. John Blust, a Greensboro Republican. "If we're worrying about tourism, do you think $4 a gallon gas is going to affect tourism. We need more fossil fuels in this country."

Democrats objected to the often-repeated GOP talking point that drilling for natural gas will reduce gasoline prices and reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil. There are not believed to be sizable deposits of oil off the North Carolina coast.
After a study was quoted as saying that increased domestic oil production would have a negligible impact on gasoline prices, Blust countered that such economic analyses were produced by "whackos in an ivory tower."

.....

Attempts by Democrats to add amendments for wind and wave power as options were shot down.

Pleas for a clean coast to enhance tourism were ignored.

Instead, the Republicans insisted that a chunk of royalties from offshore drilling would be put into a special fund to pay for any environmental damage.



These vicious people have lost their screaming minds.


Come on, North Carolina, we're pulling for you to get rid of these parasites!

[ProfessionalLeftist]

1. "We need more fossil fuels in this country."

NO. We don't. We need to learn to use other types of fuel and energy. Period.