Gilmore: drill in Alaska
Brent Finnegan -- July 7th, 2008
Jim Gilmore, Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, made his way though the Valley today, stopping at a “high end retail apartment construction site in Harrisonburg” (from NBC29). It appears that the primary issue he’s hitting over and over again is drilling for oil off the Alaskan coast. Gilmore is touting Alaskan oil as the solution to high fuel prices in the U.S.
Gilmore, who trails Mark Warner by significant margins in the polls, is trying to paint Warner as too rich and successful. Earlier today, the Washington Post posted this on their site.
Part of his “working families tour,” Gilmore is trying to portray Warner as a liberal elitist who is out touch with the concerns of lower and middle class families [...] Gilmore has taken to calling Warner, who is worth an estimated $200 million, a “limousine liberal.” [...]
But Gilmore, who is also a millionaire, won’t just be mingling with blue collar workers during his campaign swing.
At nearly every stop on the tour, Gilmore will hold a closed-door fundraiser, where tickets range from $25 to $1,000 per person.
Gilmore is headed to Southwest Virginia tomorrow.
Jim Who?
The only good solution to high fuel prices is more careful consumption. Anyone preaching something else needs run out of town.
Wait, is Mark Warner supposed to be a radical socialist or a successful capitalist?
I’m confused, Governor Gilmore…maybe if I can cough up $1000 I could come talk to you at one of your private fundraisers. I’ve already met that old out-of-touch Mark Warner at free, public events.
Hey, could you guys help me out with some math? “Drill here, drill now” in ANWR is projected to reduce the cost of a barrel of oil by 75 cents (by the year 2025, if OPEC doesn’t decrease their oil production to offset increased US production), and oil is currently more than $140 a barrel, how much would I save on an average fill-up?
Jeremy
That was way to long for the talking points requirement. It’s easier to say, No Car Tax. I mean, lower gas prices!
Jeremy Aldrich basically has this. Drilling in Alaska, or offshore, is going to provide way too little oil to make any significant dent on the price of oil.
Curiously Gilmore’s position is out of line with McCain’s. The latter supports allowing states to drill offshore if they want to, but continues to oppose drilling in ANWR.
I just read the DNR’s article and although they headlined it with Gilmore and his “opinions” they actually did cover both sides. Kudos. My only problem is that Gilmore is either a liar or just ignorant.
I’m feeling sorta Republican this week (it’s all about me). Drill. Please. I need to cover my losses in the Real Estate market. Drill, Do it for me.
haahahahahahaha…Jim Gilmore….hahahahahahahahaha…
“My only problem is that Gilmore is either a liar or just ignorant.”
Or both.
I honestly can’t believe that Gilmore believes he has a chance of winning. It’s “the best governor of VA” against “the worst governor of VA.” And I think that’s even putting partisan politics aside. Gilmore was a *disaster*.
Covered both sides politically, perhaps. Economically, not so much.
Do you, Gilmore seems to ask, trust the party that brought you Iraq and voodoo economics to make every effort to continue the governmental and business models that created global warming and craven dependence on Saudi Arabia? Hard to put that in a three-word slogan, I suppose. Just as it’s harder to drill for oil than for bottled water, but the DNR will still ask the same usual suspects.
With all of the oil companies advertising their commitment to green, why not call their bluff? 1. Vote now to allow off-shore drilling off the coasts with the letting of permits to come in the future as mapping/exploration proceeds (they aren’t ready to drill yet anyway). 2. Require the construction of renewable energy fields (wind or solar would seem to be the best bet). 3. Once a company’s renewable field is on-line, allow it to bid for an off-shore field expected to produce an amount of oil in proportion to the renewable energy already produced. My expectation is that the renewable energy produced would lead to a drop in oil consumption and prices such that we wouldn’t see much, if any, off-shore drilling because it would no longer be necessary.
Nice idea Gene Hart, you’ve been putting some thought to this. Beats the heck out of shell game schemes like abusive driver fees and depending on future royalties to fund transportation and car tax repeals.
Brooke sees the worst and best governor’s of Virginia…I simply see two politicians that didn’t deliver on campaign promises.
Everyone knows Gilmore’s gimmick and subsequent destruction of state finances. However, I also remember several speeches where Warner said smarter spending in Richmond was the answer (trimming the fat). He then pushed through the highest tax increase in history. Maybe the fat he was talking about was in our paychecks. Best governor? Maybe. Great salesman? Most certainly.
I’ll be hard pressed to vote for either. I’d bet on Warner to be the less lock-step of the two, but would bet on Gilmore bringing more pork to the valley (which could be viewed as good or bad).
BTW, If you think Gilmore’s the worst governor, what does that make the guy that has turned a surplus into a billion dollar debt in less than four years?
It’s easy to blame the governor who’s the big D, what about the assembly’s responsibility in the matter?
Karl, while I have not liked Kaine as much as I liked Warner, I think the housing market, and sagging economy have a fair bit to do with at least part of the issues we’re seeing now. Those two things alone would automatically create a loss of forecasted tax revenue as housing values fall, and people spend less.
Why Karl, whatever are you talking about? Virginia must always balance it’s budget. The General Assembly have been frittering with the transportation budget for 3 years and still not managed to fund their transportation obligations….so it couldn’t be that?
Virginia income tax revenues are down in excess of 25%, corporate taxes? ditto! Real Estate recording fees? Don’t ask!
The Governor faces some tough choices as he manages the recession, but I doubt he’ll resort to the Gilmore Solution – borrow the money on Wall Street. And it was, after all, Wall Street that took a look at Gilmore’s economic policy and declared him “Worst”, just before they lowered Virginia’s credit rating.
I’m sorry, but I agree with everything Brooke said in her first comment.
Karl,
Gilmore managed to run a deficit during a booming economy. Kaine is facing a declining economy, with the property value collapse in Northern Virginia clearly a major problem, and most certainly not his fault.
More generally, I actually support McCain’s position on the oil drilling issue. Protect ANWR (from the stupidities of Gilmore), but let states who want it allow drilling on their offshores, such as Virginia. In fact, there is little evidence of pollution problems from such drilling (heard of any out of the Gulf of Mexico or the North Sea? No, I have not either). So, let them drill there if they want.
However, let us just not get into any delusions that such drilling (or the even smaller returns one could get out of ANWR) would or will come remotely close to solving the problems the US faces in terms of oil dependency or high oil prices, which seems to be the line coming out of both McCain and Gilmore. All this stuff is just drops in buckets compared to the humongous amounts we guzzle down.
There were 111 major oil spills because of Katrina (the Gulf) and I for one won’t vote for that idiocy of our coasts. Ps, when the media and McCain tells you that the derricks were safe during Katrina they are outright lying! Cross check their facts, the EPA declared the spills worse than the Exxon spill in Alaska.
The reason this issue is coming up now though is because neither McCain nor Gilmore stand a chance if they are forced to talk about important issues that they neither have answers (like oil dependency) for nor want to talk about the few policies that they do have “answers” for. So debate away where you stand on oil drilling, in the meantime we ignore real solutions.
Thank you, Dave. I was just coming here to post the same thing about Katrina. Drilling is not the answer. Reducing consumption is the answer, and that is where we need to be placing our emphasis. That is, finding ways, both on a national level, through research and development, and through changes made on individual levels, to reduce our dependence on oil – PERIOD.
I’m sorry I was wrong
“May 2006, the U.S. Minerals Management Service published their offshore damage assessment: 113 platforms totally destroyed”
May 2006, the U.S. Minerals Management Service published their offshore damage assessment: 113 platforms totally destroyed, and – more importantly – 457 pipelines damaged, 101 of those major lines with 10″ or larger diameter. At least 741,000 gallons were spilled from 124 reported sources (the Coast Guard calls anything over 100,000 gallons a “major” spill).
That’s only from offshore sources
I stand corrected on pollution from offshore sources.
Bubby, Kaine just last week said the state is staring down a two billion dollar shortfall by 2010. That’s “whatever” I’m talking about. Thanks though for pointing out the terrible revenue sources the Commonwealth is struggling with, hadn’t thought of how badly a poor construction market hits the bottom line. The state should take a page out of the Rockingham County book. Permits for construction are down, but fees are up.
For clarification: I voted for Warner and would have voted for him again if this wasn’t a backward state (Commonwealth) that doesn’t allow two term guv’s. I just wish he had been more honest about how he would fix Gilmore’s mess. Once in office, Warner said the problem was worse than he thought. That’s somewhat plausible, but I would hope that someone claiming to have the answers during a campaign would also know the questions.
I don’t want Brooke to think I completely disagree with her assessment. Gilmore does seem un-electable and easily fits the “worst” perception. I’m not willling to give “best” to anyone, but Warner is certainly the frontrunner.
http://www.crocktown.com for related “news”