Pelosi’s sham energy bill is an oily dodge, and Carnahan’s in favor of it.

Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi introduced legislation that is nothing more than a “CYA” tactic that tries to convince the American people that the Democrats are really concerned about high gas prices.  What makes this bad for Missouri voters is that Russ Carnahan thinks that the people of Missouri are dumb enough to believe this garbage.

The legislation effectively keeps the 26-year-old congressional drilling ban in place for 85 percent of all offshore petroleum reserves. Pelosi’s measure allows virtually no drilling within 100 miles of U.S. coastlines, yet that’s where most of the untapped resources are. Incredibly, that’s not the worst of it. Pelosi’s bill leaves in place the endless delays created via lawsuits filed by rabid environmentalists. U.S. Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., calls this problem the bill’s ‘litigation loophole.’ … Even without the open invitation to lawsuits, the bill is a bad deal. We’ve noted before that it shares not a penny of revenue from new oil leases with the states off whose shores the drilling would occur. This provides no incentive for states to give the necessary approval for drilling to occur between 50 miles and 100 miles from their coasts. … But for a perfect indication of just how cynical a ploy Pelosi pulled, consider that Republicans Tuesday night offered a motion to “recommit” her bill so it could be replaced with a bipartisan, compromise energy bill co-sponsored by 39 Democrats. Twenty-four of those Democrats, including lead author, Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, effectively voted against their own legislation. Not even the sneakiest lawyer alive could possibly explain that logic.  These politicians just keep demonstrating that they don’t care about the people who elected them in the first place.