The Chris Moeller Archives

Message from an American mogul

Three Democratic senators crossed party lines today and supported the President's plan to pursue oil-drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. In the interest of public disclosure (which we're all about), those three senators were Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye, both of Hawaii. The bill passed 51-to-49 as a result, despite opposition from a coalition that included seven Republicans. It must first survive budget negotiations later this year, and final approval from both the House and the Senate, but vote-watchers on both sides believe today's vote was pivotal, as it passed despite the use of parliamentary stalling devices-- most notably, the threat of a filibuster.

The budget resolution assumes revenues of about $5 billion from drilling fees over the next decade, but has been fiercely opposed by environmental groups due to the fact that the affected area is one of the last unspoiled regions of wilderness in North America. They argue that the drilling would have minimal impact on the U.S. economy since oil will not be refined and available for consumer use for another 10 years, and even then will be in short supply.

There has been a moderate amount of public opposition to the drilling, despite the public's general drowsiness and inattention to current events. The argument against drilling has been centered on the wisdom of spoiling the refuge for, seemingly, so little economic gain; and rightly so, considering that, at best, the move will only momentarily forestall the inevitable economic collapse that will come without the introduction and corporate support of alternative biofuels. But where's the outrage over the selling off of our national resources? This will not be the American government doing the drilling, it will be the oil companies-- private oil companies once again making off with our public assets, then selling them back to us at any price they see fit, and regardless of how much resource is discovered and tapped in the 19 million acre refuge.

I find it enormously disheartening that the American people feel so little sense of ownership in this piece of property, and I'm not talking about the individual, personal property that we're taught to cherish in our consumer culture. I'm talking about the assets we own collectively as Americans.

If you ask the average American what they own, that person is likely to spit out a list of items that includes a home, car, lawnmower, and CD collection. But I have great news for you, Mr. and Ms. American. You are also part-owner of the public airwaves and its governing body, the FCC, the highways, the elections that determine our leaders, $5 trillion in workers' pensions funds, revolutionary scientific and medical research projects at the National Institute of Health, countless other research and development assets and the public works, a large shareholder leverage over the major corporations on the stock exchange, 56 National Parks and 388 "official" units of the National Park Service, including fisheries, national historic sites, and educational centers, and roughly one-third of all the real estate that makes up the United States. That's a pretty good feeling, isn't it?

But I've got some bad news for you, too. You've just been robbed.

posted by CM @ 9:42 PM