For Immediate Release:
June 18, 2008
Contact: Kristina Johnson, 415-977-5619

 
Bush, McCain Do Texas Two-Step with Big Oil
 Push to Open Protected Coastlines to Drilling Would Add to Oil Industry
 Profits
 

Washington, DC: Today, President Bush joined Senator John McCain in calling  on Congress to end the ban that has protected America’s most pristine coastlines from oil drilling since 1981.
 
Statement of Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope
 
“Yesterday, Senator John McCain called for a break with the energy policies  of current and past administrations. But now Senator McCain and President Bush are offering the exact same answer to our energy crisis: more drilling  on our coasts. This week we are watching President Bush and Senator McCain
 do the Texas Two-Step with Big Oil.
 
“The proposals from both President Bush and Senator McCain to open America’s pristine beaches and last remaining wild places to oil drilling  would do nothing to solve our energy problems.
 
“Drilling our last undeveloped coastlines will do nothing to ease pain at the pump for the average American family. It will only add to the oil  industry’s tens of billions of dollars in record profits.
 
“We can’t afford to waste time with the same old outdated cry for more  drilling. If Senator McCain is really interested in breaking our addiction  to oil, putting America back to work, and tackling global warming, we urge  him to reconsider his support for the failed policies of the past. It’s  time for President Bush, Senator McCain and the rest of Congress to support the common sense plan put forth by the Senate leadership, the
 Consumer-First Energy Act. This plan would make sure the oil industry is paying its fair share, crack down on speculators, put our economy back on the path to prosperity, help end our dangerous dependence on fossil fuels, and fight global warming.”

 
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