Sixty-Six Oh Eight

According to a variety of newspaper articles including The Washington Post, President Bush plans to sell land in Eastern Utah including the Desolation Canyon (which conveniently leads directly into the Grand Canyon). By selling this land President Bush’s administration has opened up the possibility of domestic oil drilling, a plan that Bush has been considering since 2003. The lands that are currently being considered for energy exploitation are currently protected but by opening these lands to drilling for oil and gas President Bush believes that relief will ultimately be reached for those consumers who are still suffering with oil and gas prices on a regular basis. The former director of the Bureau of Land Management, Jim Baca (who served under President Clinton), told The Washington Post “Previous administrations proved that there can be a balance between wilderness protection and oil and gas development. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has worked tirelessly to appease the oil and gas industry no matter the cost to our national heritage of wild and untamed places.”

As President Bush prepares to leave office in January 2009, he is continuing to develop plans that could potentially hurt our environment. With this in mind, future President Barack Obama is going to have a handful to deal with as soon as he enters the Oval Office. The conservation of these lands up for the drilling lease under President Bush is perhaps the biggest issue regarding this situation. Environmentalists are currently arguing that these lands are “wilderness quality” and therefore should be protected from drilling.

Unlike former Presidential nominee John McCain who supported drilling for oil and gas anywhere including domestically in the United States, future President Barack Obama seems to want to take an alternative route to finding new sources of oil and gas and we see this as a good thing. While both McCain’s and Bush’s programs may have helped with immediate relief when it comes to the oil and gas crisis, it is evident that Barack Obama’s plan for the environment will be more effective in the long run.

Obama’s plans to find alternative fuel sources, remove gas-guzzling cars from the market, and provide renewable sources of energy will provide long term benefits for the environment. As the world contunes to drill and drill and drill, Obama hopes by cutting back on this massive amount of drilling, the United States will have a more safe approach to our environment. If the United States stuck to the plans proposed by President Bush and his domestic drilling program, it would take years for oil output to reach its potential. In the time it would take for this to happen, President Obama’s plans will have led us to massive amounts of renewable energy sources thereby saving our environment more efficiently and quicker.