The inanity of offshore drilling

A couple days back, I had blasted a Facebook group for its short-sighted thinking on energy policy - namely, an asinine proclamation for lower gas prices without considering any of the consequences (as well as the likely failure) of any actions to do so. Not to be outdone, though, it appears like Republican presidential candidate John McCain has proposed lifting the ban on offshore drilling - with Bush's help: From the AP:

On Monday, McCain made lifting the federal ban on offshore oil and gas development a key part of his energy plan. The Arizona senator said states should be allowed to pursue energy exploration in waters near their coasts and receive some of the royalty revenue.

Never mind the fact that the only state that is being targeted by this move - Florida - has a long history of politicians on both sides of the aisle who oppose offshore drilling. In his quest to be considered as the vice presidential nominee (which really is the only explanation in my mind), Florida governor Charlie Crist announced his support for the move as well. Frankly, it's nice to see the vast majority of commenters on the Miami Herald website fed up about this as well.

The basic issue is this: building an offshore oil rig takes anywhere from 2-4 years, if this link is to believed. Offshore drilling is not a quick fix to our higher energy prices, and in drilling off of Florida - which routinely gets visited by hurricanes year after year - it probably would pose a much bigger environmental risk than offshore drilling platforms further in the Gulf of Mexico. This isn't a long-term solution to anything, much less driving down the price of gas. But I suppose we'll have to suffer through a debate about it now.