Offshore Drilling

This gives me mixed feelings. Overall i'm an Obama supporter, although I am slightly disappointed by his tack to the centre ground over the past ten days or so. There are many clear issues where I back Obama - healthcare, wealth distribution and abortion being just three, however there are two issues where I feel slightly uneasy about the Obama policies, free trade and the environment.

Free trade is something for another day but on the environmental issue there is an important aspect that many Americans miss (highlighted in the article):

"Environmentalists have reacted with alarm to Mr Bush's call, saying offshore drilling would take at least a decade to have any effect on oil supply"

It's going to take at least ten years for anything to change, that is Obama's main opposition to allowing offshore drilling and continuing along the lines of oil exploration. I see the point and I also completely advocate both Obama and McCain's sweeping promises on renewables and energy conservation, but in my opinion Obama is looking at this as 'all or nothing', but surely an energy policy that allows for oil exploration whilst also investing heavily in renewables is the best way to go? The world has changed, very, very few people now consider oil or other fossil fuels as being the sensible energy model for the 21st century, so with that in mind there is nothing wrong in allowing drilling to take place to discover and sell the final reserves - as long as ths is coupled with a progressive renewables policy. In fact a sensible solution would be to allow the oil companies to drill for the remaining oil but impose a levy on them which is then 100% reinvested in Government backed renewables schemes, that way all parties win:

1) Short term employment gains
2) Investment in US companies
3) Increased renewables investment
4) An proactive PR appearance

However, let's all remember that this is going to have zero impact on the price at the petrol station, the US reserves are small fry compared to the Middle East and the petroleum market will no doubt be a very different beast in ten years time.

So this is one issue i'm with McCain on, next week Free Trade!