offshore drilling

While Louisiana struggles to restore coastal wetlands ravaged in large part by decades of oil and gas drilling, its senior senator is leading the effort to lift the ban on drilling off Florida's Panhandle.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is a co-sponsor on legislation by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to open up new areas in the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas development. Introduced last month, Senate Bill 1517 would allow drilling in federal waters 45 miles off the Panhandle's coast. Current law bans drilling within 125 miles of Panhandle beaches and 235 miles of Gulf Coast beaches south of Tampa.

Opposing the Murkowski-Landrieu plan is U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), a longtime foe of offshore drilling. He joins other Florida leaders worried about drilling's impact on the state's lucrative tourism industry, which in 2008 alone generated more than $65 billion for Florida's economy and $3.9 billion for the state in tax revenue.

"This isn't even thinly veiled," Nelson said. "It's an oil industry bailout plan. And it's Alaska and Louisiana's senators plan to boost their own revenues in tough economic times. But even in the toughest of times, there are some things states shouldn't sell out, like Florida's economy and environment."

Why is Landrieu pushing the plan?

She says it's out of concern for rising oil prices, though the U.S. Energy Information Administration says drilling in areas that are currently restricted would result in negligible savings to consumers.

Meanwhile, Landrieu and Murkowski are among the top congressional recipients of campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry.

The picture above, via CleanBeta, is worth a book -- and then some.

One look, and it becomes readily apparent that drilling for oil in offshore waters is not the cure-all its supporters assert. Not even close.

See that itsy, bitsy sliver of aqua blue? Well that represents the total impact of new offshore drilling on America’s energy supply. And it ain't much -- some 200,000 barrels per day at peak production.

Republicans have taken aim at the media, deeply offended by the scrutiny their surprise Vice Presidential nominee is getting. But a new analysis from the Center for Economic and Policy Research shows the GOP ought to be saying "thank you" instead.

The report released today -- Oil Drilling in Environmentally Sensitive Areas: The Role of the Media -- demonstrates how the myth that offshore drilling would lower gas prices has gotten a big boost from major media.

Considering the repeated chants of "Drill, Baby, Drill!" that filled the GOP convention hall last night, that's a major assist courtesy of ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and Fox.

The media blew the drilling story, according to CEPR, because they failed to report a key US government statistic.

Why does the latest poll by the Pew Research Center report that drilling for domestic oil has jumped to the top of Americans' energy priorities? Maybe because Pew didn’t ask respondents if they want the nation to invest in clean energy and efficient cars, instead.

So suggests this poll (pdf) by Belden Russonello & Stewart, released last week.

Have a look at its striking results. Renewable energy was listed as an energy solution, and guess what? Americans chose it over drilling by an overwhelming 76 percent to 19 percent.

Here’s the exact question posed by Belden: