Off-shore drilling: We inlanders are “selfish”

So I’m poking around on HuffPost and I ran into an article about public opinion on off-shore drilling and many Americans (just over half in this poll, but up to 62% in an NBC poll) favor more off-shore drilling. I ran across this comment by a gentleman who lives in Cape Cod, MA:

Of course they do, selfishness rules when you don't live near the coast. Why should middle America give up on all their shizzle to save a beach. It doesn't impact them when there's a spill. Hell they never saw nor will they ever see the ocean. Besides fish comes in a can.

Readers of my blog know I favor less off-shore and on-shore drilling. Although domestic drilling has little effect on price, I hope drilling is reduced to the point where prices rise. Expensive petroleum products are the only way we can force Americans to conserve. Making huge strides in conservation/energy efficiency is the ONLY way we will ever become energy independent, which I think everyone can agree is a good goal.

However, those of us not located along the east or west coast have been paying the price of some energy development disproportionately. While people on the coast have enjoyed an off-shore drilling ban since Bush the First, we’ve been living with increasing oil and gas drilling in MT, NM, ID, CO, UT, WY, TX, OK, etc. for many decades now. Why are concerns of the people on the coasts worth more than ours? When rich elite in Cape Cod cry “Not In My Back Yard!” why should they get what they want while us rural folks in CO get the energy development? And we get called “selfish?”

I could take those same words and say this:

“Of course they support on-shore drilling, selfishness rules when you don't live in the west. Why should coastal America give up on all their shizzle to save a landscape in the Rocky Mountains? It doesn't impact them when there's a spill. Hell they never saw nor will they ever see the gas wells in the wildlife habitat and scenic landscapes.”

You cool with that east coast guy? You make a good point. But I have a problem with you applying it selectively to inlanders when we’re the ones who have been footing the cost for some time now.

Folks in San Fran and New Jersey get to drive their cars, heat their houses, and buy all their stuff while we inlanders foot the cost. It’s time for some energy equality. I do not support opening up more areas to drilling whether on the coasts or in the west. But if these smug east coasters keep calling us selfish I might have to change my mind. I think it’s high time we ALL pay the environmental and scenic costs of the energy we use, even Americans on the coasts.