A win for the environment?

Thank goddesses green earth the House decided to ditch the drilling bill for fear they wouldn't be able to pass the budget bill. The Senate still has the language in their version and supposedly , if the bill passes the House, a few good souls will be appointed from both branches to work out the differences between the two bills. I say drop it and move on.

The decision to drop the ANWR drilling language came after GOP moderates said they would oppose the budget if it was kept in the bill. The offshore drilling provision was also viewed as too contentious and a threat to the bill, especially in the Senate.

This, of course, is another "setback for Bush" and I'm truly enjoying myself.

The budget bill is immune from filibuster, but drilling proponents suddenly found it hard to get the measure accepted by a majority of the House. That’s because Democrats oppose the overall budget bill, giving House GOP opponents of drilling in the Arctic enough leverage to have the matter killed.

Why can't the moderate Republicans just say they don't agree ANWR should be open to drilling without having to worry about how to disagree, such as this backsided escape route?

GOP leaders, led by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., also agreed to drop a plan to allow states to waive a 24-year ban on drilling along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and open a contested tract off the Florida Gulf coast to oil drilling. Several Florida Republicans opposed the plan.

It's easy for an Illinois Representative to say yes to drilling off the coasts of the U.S. He's landlocked and won't have to look at therefineriess nor suffer the environmental dangers that willinevitablyy come up.

I wish they would understand that our energy efficiency could be better increased by investing our money into continuing the development of alternative fuels ('cause we know they are possible and do exist currently), increasing emission regulations on cars and so much more. That is something I could support.