There is a huge NIMBY reaction to this, just like when Ted Kennedy objected to marine based windfarms in sight of his Hyannis Port property. The eco-lobby plays to these kinds of fears, convincing politicians that their wealthy supporters' beach front homes will become despoiled by pollution if oil companies drill in shallower water - which is actually the reverse of the truth.
While the current administration is responsible for pushing this folly even further, the problem goes back through a number of administrations and congresses, and republicans are as guilty for lacking the political stones to fix the problem as are democrats for being absolutely feckless on energy policy in the first place. Even George W. Bush, who was supposedly so in bed with "Big Oil" that he went to war on their behalf, according to the pretzel logic of some of his critics, refused to allow development of Alaskan oilfields, or to open up new leases closer to shore.
None of these people who are at the decision making level on these things, whether they are politicians, or oil company executives, has to really live with the impact of their decision making the way any regular middle class citizen does. They don't care, which is why it is time to throw all of them out of office and start with a clean slate. Personally, I look forward to the day when mobs chase down ecology activists and tar and feather them for the frauds that they are.
I have no problem with alternative sources of energy, particularly for home use, but we are a heck of a long way away from the point where we will no longer be depending on fossil fuels for all of our transportation needs. And by the way, "alternative" includes building nuclear power generation plants. The same liberals who would have us look to Europe for models of how to run our socialized health care, or how to restrict our firearms ownership, conveniently look the other way when they are reminded that France generates about 75%-80% of its power from nuclear plants, and they have a pretty much perfect safety record. But get a liberal to support the construction of a nuke plant here? Heaven forbid!
And in the meantime, they offer nothing in the way of real, workable solutions which we can put into practice now to solve our dependence on oil for transportation. Why? Because such methods either don't exist and are still the stuff of pipe dreams, or the technologies do exist (barely), but they are still in their infancy and not yet ready to be brought to market. It's all a wish sandwich. You slap two pieces of bread together and wish you had some meat.
And by the way, is there anyone crazy enough to think that a typical HOA, for instance, is going to allow its homeowners to start building windmills or slapping solar panels on their roofs? And speaking of that, I had a roofer tell me just yesterday that you can now have solar roofing tiles installed on your home when you have your roof redone. They only operate at about 10% efficiency compared to other solar panels, but a roof is a large area, so there is still significant power generated. Anybody got the bucks to run right out and install that? Of course, you have to have your home's electrical systems redesigned to take advantage of the power generated, but what's a penny here and a penny there?
...not that I have any particular opinion in the matter.
