Sarah Palin is sticking with the “Drill here, drill now” slogan/policy position she championed during the 2008 presidential campaign. She dusted off the familiar phrase at a Saturday speech in Nevada for Tea Party activists, calling for more nuclear energy, offshore drilling, and “clean coal” spending.
“Congress and those in the White House choose to not allow us to develop our own God-given resources in the United States of America,” she said.
The substance of her energy argument isn’t all that interesting, because…
- The White House strongly supports nuclear energy. Last month President Obama announced an $8.3 billion federal loan guarantee to build two new reactors in Georgia.
- The potential of offshore drilling has been widely debunked—it’ll take 10 years to reach significant production levels and 20 years to reach peak production.
- Clean coal doesn’t exist, except as a marketing ploy.
What is interesting is that the call for energy independence from Palin sounds a lot like the calls for energy independence from renewables advocates (including veterans for clean energy). From her speech on Saturday: “There is an inherent link between energy and prosperity, between energy and security, and between energy and freedom. We do need to drill here and drill now.”
Half of that makes sense.
