“Mitt Romney Sees Path to Energy Independence,” an L.A. Times piece by Seema Mehta (8/22/12), doesn’t mention climate change at all.
It also doesn’t mention tar sands, the Canadian oil deposits whose extraction would devastate the environment, even though that’s what Romney’s talking about when he says that approving the Keystone pipeline will be one of the keys to energy independence for “North America.”
Nor does it mention the ongoing ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, even though that’s surely relevant to Romney touting offshore drilling as the other major piece of his energy plan.
The story also leads with the lie that increasing domestic production (or production in “North America”) will significantly affect the price of oil, a global commodity:
Mitt Romney will unveil an energy plan Thursday that he says will allow North America to be energy independent by 2020 and decrease costs to consumers by increasing domestic production.
This easily debunked assertion is never questioned.
Other than that, it’s a great piece: It successfully translates a Mitt Romney press release into the format of an L.A. Times news article.
“Features of the plan, a contrast to Obama’s, include Keystone XL and new offshore oil drilling.”
Doesn’t this qualify as a classic non sequitur?
Keystone was all set, before being postponed – some of it, at any rate – and the admin’s headlong rush to open up the oceans north and south is a drooling platform for the oil and gas oligarchs.
Call it a bipartisan gang rape of Mother Earth.
More intel
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/08/23-0
Romney’s designs may be Obama’s plans on steroids
But it’s the essentially the same physique
And Dear Misleader’s pumping plenty of iron of his own
Journalism? Stenography!
Oh Mr. Romney: “Energy Independence for NORTH AMERICA?”
But the XL product will be sent to China! Besides, both Mexico and Canada, are a part of North America. Will we be annexing them soon? When has this country ever worried about Mexico? Didn’t NAFTA clue you in?
I know now why you never discuss your religion. Worshiping the algorhythms on Wall St. is a cult, you know.
The adolescent dream of driving a fossil fuel powered vehicle lives on in too many mostly-men into their old age so candidates like Romney can pull this nonsense. Thoughtful adults know that renewable energy brings freedom from ever rising utility bills and the deep debt (financial and moral) of wars for oil that recent and current administrations have persisted in–not to mention the threat of climate change and the disastrous results of fracking to our planet. “When will they ever learn?”
Lol, I was asking my pops this the other day; do people ever actually read the oil price survey shill articles wherein the word “refineries” is regularly used along with “gasoline price increase”, meanwhile the political campaigns carry on about “production”? Do people even know where the excess crude and diesel production from N. America goes? I suppose, like you G. Casey, that Fox news is reporting supply shortages are causing small price spikes, and is the source of all the $5 a gallon stories I hear.
The reason he is not talking about it ,is because your side of the coin has templated a version of every energy extraction which always ends with a sign that says STOP!!!!!!No we now move forward beyond your sky is falling nonsense to do what we do best.Fix any problem that surfaces along the way.If your side had its way back in the day we never would of moved beyond horse and buggy.Actually we would of retrograded.Horses would be given rights and making them work would of been tantamount to torture(same theory you have for people).And of course their carbon emissions would be taxed.You would of had a million reasons why we never should of progressed.And the most amazing thing with you lot of haters is you would looked at the present state of our world as reason to prove you are right.Every lib becomes a lib by swearing that the glass is half empty.
Dave – “Do people even know where the excess crude and diesel production from N. America goes?”
You are confusing crude production – where N. America is a net importer (even accounting for Canada and Mexican production) – and the exporting of a few refined petroleum products (refineries have been around for 30 or 40 years – they’re a fixed asset. Americans are using slightly less gasoline and diesel thanks to better MPG vehicle fleets, so America is now exporting a little bit of refined product).
People are vastly confused if they think the small gains from fracking for oil and shale oil processing in the American West will change the USA from a big next IMPORTER of crude to “energy independent”. The US has about 12 million barrels/day of imported crude to make up for.