Rudy Giuliani Touts Drilling ANWR as the Answer to the Gulf Oil Spill

X Facebook Email Flipboard Pinterest Print Reddit

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:01 pm

Rudy Giuliani became the latest Republican this morning to go on Fox News and blame environmentalists for the oil spill in the Gulf. On Fox and Friends Unbelievably, he touted drilling ANWR, “The reason they’re drilling out there is because environmentalists have prevented us from drilling closer and in places like ANWR.”

Here is the video courtesy of Media Matters:

Guiliani and Steve Doocy were upset that Obama, “blamed Bush” for the oil spill when Giuliani said, “He also blamed us the American people because we like oil. The only reason they were drilling according to the president, out there in deep water, is because of our addiction to oil, which is totally untrue. The reason they’re drilling out there is because environmentalists have prevented us from drilling closer and in places like ANWR. That’s the honest point, rather than the let’s take advantage of any crisis kind of point which is the thinking of this White House, which prevents them from looking at a crisis as a real thing to have to respond to.”

I am not sure what Giuliani meant by drilling closer. Did he mean drilling in shallower water, drilling closer to the coast, or both? The drilling depth makes no difference. The Ixtoc I spill in the Gulf in 1979 occurred at only 160 feet. The depth of the well does not matter. The technology for cleanup is the same whether the well is 100 feet or 5,000 feet, and it is mind boggling that in the face of the environmental disaster in US history, Giuliani would bring up ANWR. The leak in the Gulf demonstrates exactly why we should not drill in ANWR.

Environmentalists have nothing to do with the decision to drill anywhere. Politics and the price of oil are what determine where to drill. American politicians especially Republicans keep pushing the false narrative that we can drill our way to energy independence, and oil companies will drill anywhere as long as it is profitable. Once again though, Giuliani is another misleading Republican. The oil drilled in the United States does not belong to the American people. It belongs to the oil companies, and they are free to sell it on the open market to any nation on Earth so the idea of drilling enough oil to feed our addiction here in the US is a myth.

While Giuliani criticized Obama for exploiting a crisis, he seemed to have forgotten about how the Bush administration exploited 9/11 to lead the country into an unrelated war in Iraq, and pass the Patriot Act, among other things. Giuliani himself has become very wealthy by exploiting 9/11 to build his fame, and make six figures per appearance on the speaking circuit. Rudy even tried to exploit and ride 9/11 the whole way to the White House in 2008.

Not once did Giuliani mention that we need to hold BP accountable, or that this disaster was caused by BP. The Republicans refuse to admit that it was the deregulatory policies of the Bush administration that laid the foundation for the incident in the Gulf, and if it would not have been Deep Water Horizon, it would have happened somewhere else. Instead of blaming Obama, Republicans should be ashamed that once again this president has to clean up another mess caused by the Right’s attachment to ideology over common sense.

Author
Recent Posts

Follow Me

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

Follow Me