Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Contact your Senator!

CNN is carrying the story of how the House of Representatives have turned their back on the environment and have passed HR 6899. This will (if passed by the Senate) allow drilling off the coast of the United States (not just in the Gulf) as close as 50 miles offshore.

Many Republicans opposed the bill because it would allow new oil drilling only between 50 and 100 miles offshore. Republicans generally want to allow new drilling starting 3 miles from shore.

Great, the Republicans wanted drilling closer, but I don't want additional drilling at all! I want alternative fuel. Allowing additional drilling will only slow down anyone looking for new ways to fuel our vehicles. And it is not going to help with the ridiculous gas prices we are all paying.

The Senate, meanwhile, could vote on various energy proposals, including more offshore drilling, as early as this week.

Write your Senators and tell them how you feel on this. Write your Congressman and tell them why you don't like the way they voted. Or, if you don't understand the impact this will have (and will not) have on the future of our planet, write them and tell them you think they are swell.

This entire thing makes me sick. Can we fire Congress?

2 comments:

Michelle said...

I think we can fire Congress via elections, but that will take time.

What's interesting is that the American public generally has really, really low approval ratings for Congress. Yet, when polled, people seem to love their own congressional delegates. Apparently the low approval rating is due to *your* Congresspeople and *not mine*. :)

LeftLeaningLady said...

shel, I guess you may be right. I don't see how that is possible. I don't really pay attention to *your* Congresspeople. While I know that it takes more than just mine to pass a Bill, I just check how mine voted to see if they did things correctly. I sent a fairly bitchy email to Alan Boyd before emailing both of my Senators. I don't like Mel Martinez at all though, because his politics and mine don't jive. Bill Nelson is ok.