So Much For Energy Independence -- NIMBY Rules the Day

You just knew this was going to happen.

AP reports:

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans have abandoned plans to lift the ban on offshore drilling along most of the country's coastline as part of new energy legislation, GOP congressmen said Monday.

Lawmakers from Florida and other coastal states objected to the proposal endorsed by the House Resources Committee. The House is expected to consider next week legislation aimed at expanding U.S. refinery capacity, including several provisions that critics say would ease clean air requirements on refineries and power plants.
....

The drilling bans apply to virtually all waters of the Outer Continental Shelf outside of the central and western Gulf of Mexico.

Read it here.

I can't agree with either side in this debate. The "energy independence" crowd are just the latest iteration of isolationist idiocy, and the environmentalists are just plain evil. Someday they'll be the death of us all and as we expire they will congratulate themselves on having rid Mother Earth of those pesky humans.