Join the call to ‘drill, drill, drill’

A recent letter writer seemed to suggest that because we had an oil spill in the gulf, a leak in an underground pipe during a fracking process in Pennsylvania, and a slight oil leak near the Yellowstone River, that we should put a halt to any effort to make our country free from foreign oil.

And what is shocking, (well, not really) is that the Obama administration seems to share that perspective. Of course it’s OK that Obama proudly proclaims that he is giving $2 billion to Brazil to help them develop their oil, and brags that he hopes we are their first customer. Where in the world is the logic here? (I’ll answer that — there isn’t any.) Those states that are into fracking to provide oil for our country are seeing some of the lowest unemployment figures in the nation. The building of the pipeline will provide tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. (You remember them, don’t you?) The secretary of the interior told us there are over 28,000 wells in the Gulf of Mexico. The safety record is outstanding, but that one spill provided them an opening to put a moratorium on current and future drilling, costing thousands of high-paying jobs, and a number of the big rigs to pull up stakes and move to more friendly countries. Cuba, in cooperation with China is exploring for oil just miles from Key West. Does this make sense? I think the next time someone says that we must become free from foreign oil, I am going to point to the high price of gas at the pump, and suggest they join the call for “Drill. Drill. Drill.”

Roger Dauchy

Wheaton