As the states along the Gulf Coast were marking the first anniversary of the BP oil disaster, Republicans in the North Carolina Senate were suffering from amnesia.
Three senators proposed a bill to direct Gov. Beverly Perdue to join the governors of Virginia and South Carolina in pushing President Obama to open the East Coast to drilling 40 miles offshore for natural gas.
The bill's sponsors - Sens. Bob Rucho of Mecklenburg County, Harry Brown of Onslow County and Tommy Tucker of Union County - reached into a top hat and pulled out some numbers saying that if a big deposit of natural gas were found, it could mean 6,700 jobs and $500 million a year for many, many years.
That presumably is the best case scenario. Another part of the scenario is that there would of course be no environmental impact from the drilling because the companies involved have solved all the problems, and that those working on the rigs could be transported to and from by a stable full of flying donkeys.
Prices down
As for the rosy financial forecasts, if the senators had been paying any attention, they'd know that supplies of natural gas are abundant and that prices have been in a decline for years.
And where does Rucho get this line of logic, in referring to the BP catastrophe: "But what we did learn from this disaster is we learned from our mistakes. The industry has already found ways to make sure that oil exploration and production can be done in a very safe manner." Then Brown noted that this is about natural gas, not oil.
So these senators have introduced a bill to potentially place the fragile environment of the North Carolina coast, one of the state's great assets in a huge tourism industry, at risk (even if the risk is remote) and they can't even seem to agree on what they're looking for?
And about Rucho's assurances that industries have made everything perfectly safe. Perhaps he'd like to read up on a Tuesday night incident in Bradford County, Pa., where a blowout at a natural gas well caused a spill of thousands of gallons of chemically tainted water used in the extraction process called hydraulic fracturing. Operations were suspended by Chesapeake Energy.
Suits abound
Consider also that BP and its contractors are involved in multibillion-dollar legal suits that will perhaps reveal all sorts of information about the Gulf spill that has yet to come to light.
It was obvious almost immediately when the GOP took control of both houses of the General Assembly that leaders would move to scuttle regulations that had to do with business, whether that meant permit requirements or inspections or oversight.
But pushing for offshore drilling just one year after the big blowout, and with uncertain prospects for financial benefit even if the best-case scenario was realized, is rolling the dice in a risky game.
Just because Republicans want to hand over the coast to drilling companies as part of their larger campaign not only to encourage more domestic energy supplies but also to release business interests from regulation and supervision is no reason to do it. Rucho contends the industry has learned its lesson since the BP disaster. Has government learned its lesson as well?
