Republican Presidential candidate John McCain took his campaign aboard Chevron’s Genesis oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, calling for more such rigs to address rising oil prices.
“Two decades ago, this rig would not have been possible. But since then, technology has enabled us to drill further offshore with even greater efficiency and environmental safety,” said McCain, who climbed around open-air platforms, inspected giant drills and talked with workers over the roar of machinery. Chevron’s Genesis facility, some 100 miles offshore and 140 miles from New Orleans, produces 10,000 barrels of oil a day and 15 million cubic feet of natural gas, officials said.
The campaign stop was part of a growing call from politicians on both sides to open up offshore drilling prospects in U.S .coastal waters that had previously been off limits.
McCain’s Democratic opponent Barack Obama original came out against offshore drilling saying it would not “solve our problem” and that “it’s not real.” Obama later dropped his blanket opposition to expanded offshore drilling, in support of a bipartisan compromise in Congress.
Opinion polls show a majority of the public supports expanded drilling to try to battle rising gas prices, although federal officials say it would take years for any oil to be produced from new drilling, and experts say perhaps a decade before the drilling would have any effect on prices at the pump.
McCain acknowledged new drilling could take a decade before it would have any positive impact on oil prices.
“New drilling has to be part of our energy solution. It will not solve this problem alone. Alternative energy will not solve this problem alone. Conservation will not solve this problem alone. Solving our energy crisis requires an ‘all of the above’ approach,” said McCain.
“It will require aggressive development of alternative energies like wind, solar, tidal and bio-fuels. It also requires expanding traditional sources of energy like clean coal, nuclear power, and off shore drilling like that done on this rig.”
McCain had planned to visit the rig in July but canceled the trip when Hurricane Dolly threatened the Gulf of Mexico.
Reuters was used as a source in this article
