[Taxacom] Whooping crane news (and oil)

[Kenneth Kinman]

Hi Mark,      
       Agreed.  Political exploitationism and gridlock is now so rampant
that it is a wonder the administration gets as much done as it does.
Blocking nominations to key positions has been particularly problematic
(as they did with the Treasury Department when it was facing its biggest
challenges last year, dealing with the Wall Street disaster).        
        As for drilling in ANWR, as I stated back on May 6th, I still
think very limited and very careful drilling there in the future would
be preferable to drilling off Florida, much less up the Atlantic coast.
However, the current spill off Louisiana has gone on so long and will
have done so much damage that any additional drilling in the coming
years should be done off Louisiana (preferably even further offshore).
A modest spill in the future would do little further damage there, but
could cause considerable damage at ANWR.  In other words, if any
additional oil drilling is necessary (due to national security and
economic considerations), it is better to do it in the area that has
already been damaged, than to spread potential damage into areas that
are still relatively pristine.  Of course, even further drilling off
Louisiana should be curtailed until the problems that led to this
disaster are addressed.
            --------Ken Kinman          
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Mark Egger wrote:        
Yes, one begins to wonder just how much oil is in this particular
stratum, because most of it may well wind up in the Gulf of Mexico and
adjacent lands and seas. I wonder if they Big Oil guys even have a
clue?? It's appalling how little they apparently know about what they
are doing. It is also amusing in a highly pathetic sense how some in
the anti-science crew are now attempting to blame this on Obama.
Whatever one thinks about Obama, it is only the most extreme exercise
in cynical political exploitationism that would propose such a  concept.
That paragon of profoundly twisted reasoning, "columnist"  Charles
Krauthammer, even suggested in an essay today (29 May) that
environmentalists are to blame for the oil spill, for forcing the poor
oil companies to drill near populated areas instead of (in his words)
"the barren...remote wilderness" of ANWR, etc. Unbelievable! 
Mark