FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 1, 2008Contact: Kristina Johnson, 415.977.5619 Josh Dorner, 202.675.2384 Oops, He Did It Again! McCain Prefers Own Rhetoric to Facts, Actual Experts on Offshore Drilling Washington, D.C.--In Florida today, Senator John McCain said he wasconvinced offshore drilling would yield immediate oil—despite hard data tothe contrary from experts like the federal government's Energy InformationAdministration. According to the EIA, it would take 7-10 years for oil to come online fromnew drilling, and twenty years to reach peak production. And, as the NewYork Times recently noted, because of a recent shortage in drillingequipment, it could likely take even longer. But McCain said: "…So I disagree with those experts and I've talked to the actual peoplethat do the work, that are in the business that say within months andcertainly within a very short time, we could have additional oil supply forthis nation. So we ought to drill now." (Video HERE) Statement of Sierra Club Political Director Cathy Duvall "Senator McCain may 'disagree with the experts,' but that doesn't make thefacts go away. New offshore drilling simply won't provide any oil forroughly a decade. And even then, the Bush administration itself admits thatdrilling will do absolutely nothing to lower gas prices today, tomorrow, oreven two decades from now. "Oil companies aren't interested in lowering gas prices. Keeping supplytight and oil prices high keeps Big Oil rolling in record profits. The oilcompanies are spending almost ten times more—a full 55 percent of theirrecord profits—on stock buybacks and dividends than they are onexploration. This drives up the price of their shares, their profits, andthe paychecks of their executives. "This episode is eerily reminiscent of Senator McCain's insistence that hismisguided 'gas tax holiday' would benefit consumers and not simply add toBig Oil’s record profits. McCain and his aides continue to insist that the230 leading economists -- including 4 Nobel Prize winners -- who denouncedhis plan are simply wrong. "We're in an energy crisis. Americans do need short-term help to offsetthe cost of gas, and Senator Obama has a plan to give it to them. He hasproposed a $1,000 refund check paid for by taxing Big Oil's record profitsthat would offer us immediate relief. That's something new drilling won'tdo, no matter what John McCain says." # # #
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