who should drill for oil off the Gulf Coast?

Kudos to Blue Indiana for pointing out a Republican congressional candidate's error in asserting that China is drilling for oil off of the coast of Cuba.

But this misses the broader and much more important point-- one to which BI does not speak: someone will be drilling for oil off the Gulf Coast. Should we join them or not?

I say yes!

What say BI, Democratic politicians in general, and Baron Hill in particular?


BI links to Josef Hebert's AP story noting the same error by Dick Cheney (based on something written by George Will):

Vice President Dick Cheney's office acknowledged on Thursday that he was mistaken when he asserted that China, at Cuba's behest, is drilling for oil in waters 60 miles from the Florida coast....

Congressional Democrats pounced on the vice president's remarks and were backed up by independent energy experts, who called the assertion hyperbole at best and a falsehood at worst....

Cuba clearly is interested in developing its deep-water oil resources, estimated at more than 5 billion barrel, including areas within 60 miles of Key West, Fla., energy experts said.

Jorge Pinon, a senior energy fellow at the University of Miami specializing in Latin America, said Cuba has awarded offshore oil leases, or concessionary blocs, in its offshore waters to six oil companies -- none of them Chinese -- and soon may announce an agreement with Brazil's state oil company, Petrobras....

China's oil company, Sinopac, has conducted exploratory drilling on a lease on land in western Cuba, but is not involved in the offshore development....