It's a Mistake - Environmental Action

Environmental Action Blog

It's a Mistake

Posted by Dan Stafford on 2010-08-27

There was an announcement the other day that the Bipartisan Policy Center is saying that it was safe to resume offshore drilling operations.

First of all, it's ridiculous to say that's offshore oil drilling is ever safe. But beyond that, let's look at this Bipartisan Center. It's got a nice name right? I'm tired of fighting in politics, I like bi-partisanship, etc. etc. But in reality it seems to be a pretty pro business, middle of the road political think tank.

For example, when you look at one of their projects - the Commission on Energy Policy - you see pictures of windmills and a publication called Forging the Climate Consensus. But the people running the commission are:

John Rowe - the CEO of Exelon, the largest nuke energy company in the country

William Reilly - head of the EPA under the first George Bush, and former head of the World Wildlife Fund - a very middle of the road enviro group. He's also on the board of directors for DuPont and ConocoPhillips.

Susan Tierney - was assistant Sec. of Energy under President Clinton, and helped the Obama/Biden team on energy issues during the transition.

So, as an example, this 'commission' isn't really housing any pro-environment environmentalists, simply pro-business ones.

I hope I'm forgiven for not blindly believing we're 'all set' to get going on drilling in the Gulf again.

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