Feds Want to Open Up More Offshore Drilling

Isn't it about time we started looking for new domestic supplies of oil and gas? The Feds think so, but of course, the locals are objecting:

The Interior Department announced a major expansion of offshore oil and gas development Monday with proposed lease sales covering 48 million new acres off Alaska, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and in the central Atlantic off Virginia.

The 3 million acres that are 50 miles off Virginia's coast would require Congress to lift a long-standing drilling moratorium that has covered most ocean waters outside the western Gulf of Mexico for decades. The Democratic-controlled Congress has given no indication it is willing to lift the long-standing moratorium.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., said in a statement that any plan to allow drilling off his state must protect coastal economies that are heavily dependent on tourism. Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine said that at this time the state would accept only offshore exploration for gas, but not its development.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who last year threatened to filibuster legislation that would expand offshore oil and gas drilling beyond the central Gulf of Mexico, said the Interior plan "calls into question why the White House remains intent on drilling elsewhere off our coasts and fattening the bottom line of the oil companies."

Do Democrats think the Oil Bunny brings us our oil? Why is it so hard to understand that there are supplies available for the taking if we'll only go after them? Why isn't that preferrable to continuing to be reliant on foreign sources, especially from countries prone to suddenly cut us off? You'll never convince me the Dems are serious about defense until they stop objecting to every oil and gas drilling option that comes along.