From the Wonk Room.
It seems that Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) is crafting a plan that could
lead to the inundation of Hawaii’s beaches, the extinction of its
species, and the destruction of its water supply. Abercrombie and John
Peterson (R-PA) are creating a “working group” to establish a
“comprehensive, environmentally responsible energy
plan,”
whose members will be announced today. The centerpiece of this plan is
opening protected coasts to drilling for more oil, as Abercrombie told
the
Hill:
Simply standing up and saying, you can’t drill your way out of this doesn’t work. The people are standing up and saying, “Yes, we can.”
The unique beaches, coral reefs, and oceanic ecosystems of Hawaii won’t be directly threatened by expanded offshore drilling, as the ocean that surrounds it doesn’t have fossil reserves. An oil spill or two could get tourists to flee the beaches of California, Florida, and the states of the eastern seaboard in favor of the Aloha State.
But in reality, Abercrombie’s advocacy of increasing fossil fuel production as a climate crisis looms will have deeper repercussions for this necklace of islands than perhaps any other state in the nation. Big Oil wants the world to keep burning fossil fuels at a rate that would increase global temperatures by five to seven times more than we’ve already experienced. Even more modest increases would spell catastrophe for islands like the Hawai’ian chain: