By Fla. Dem House candidate Heather Beaven - 07/12/10 10:47 AM ET
While great minds grapple with the forensic analysis of what happened in the Gulf and how to stop it from happening in the future, Congress must turn its eye to tomorrow. It is time to craft legislation that spurs innovation in alternative fuels. In fact, it is time for alternative fuels to be the norm.
For many Democrats and Republicans, this is a nonpartisan issue. But for a select few members of Congress, like John Mica, this tragedy has become a vehicle to move big oil’s agenda forward. Their industrial age mindset simply cannot lead America into the age of innovation.
John Mica’s affair with big oil has led him to push for drilling in the Everglades and in the Florida Keys while oil still spews from the ocean’s floor. Still today, his website reads, “I voted to drill in the Everglades in the 1970’s and I’d do it again today.”
Maybe his family connections to big oil are behind it. Maybe he truly believes that oil is the answer. Or maybe he just isn’t well versed on the alternatives, so he keeps repeating the same sound bite he was given 40 years ago during his first run for office. But times have changed and so must he, or he must go on Election Day.
Getting our energy future right isn’t a matter of preference. It’s a matter of life and death. In 2008, we imported 4 million barrels of oil every single day from “dangerous or unstable” countries. It cost us $150 billion, of which $23 billion went directly to Iraq. No doubt, it funded the very IEDs that would be used to blow up our soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen.
John Mica showed his willingness to be bought by big oil when he called the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deepwater mission “another safety regime.” And when he referred to the spill as “Obama’s Oil Spill,” followed up by “I won’t point the finger at BP.” His willingness to defend the defenseless actions of BP is simply unmatched on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
When a member of Congress takes money from big oil, votes to cut their regulatory oversight, votes to defund homeland security and defense, defends BP at the expense of his own Country, and refuses to support the exploration of modern fuel sources, there is little doubt who signs his real paycheck.
Heather Beaven, Democratic candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Florida's 7th Congressional District, is a Navy veteran and the CEO of a 501c3 serving youth at risk of dropping out of high school.
Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/campaign/108139-oil-soaked-because-it-pays-the-bills
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