CHARLESTON, W.VA. - In an effort to promote industrializing the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV-02) claimed in a newspaper op-ed column published and distributed to newspapers in West Virginia by her congressional office this week that the Chinese are "drilling for oil 30 miles from our coastline..." in Florida.
Vice President Dick Cheney, a former highly-paid oil industry executive, should have known better when he first uttered the false claim in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on June 11 that the Chinese government is "drilling 60 miles off our coast." The fabrication quickly became a GOP talking point, was repeated in the media by Sean Hannity and other far-right wing pundits, and finally whittled down to 30 miles by the time Shelley Moore Capito made the claim to West Virginians .
Never one to shy away from scaring up the ghosts of terrorism and xenophobia to frighten Americans, Dick Cheney nonetheless was forced to issue a retraction after a host of industry experts and analysts quickly debunked the Vice President's phony claim that communists were plundering our shorelines.
Cheney's office issued a retraction statement admitting that "...no Chinese firm is drilling there."
Yet even a week after Cheney was forced to admit he had told a whopper, Shelley Moore Capito is still repeating the bogus talking point to her constituents back in West Virginia .
Cheney has raised over $350,000 for Shelley Moore Capito's campaigns for Congress, and jokingly referred to West Virginia as a state of inbreds.
Anne Barth and Shelley Moore Capito have expressed opposing opinions on how to get more domestic crude oil onto the market quickly.
Capito favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which everyone agrees would take years to produce. Scientific estimates of how much recoverable oil is actually underneath the delicate and pristine ecosystem differ wildly.
"Big Oil is already sitting on enough approved drilling permits today to double our domestic oil production. To me the question is not 'why don't we prepare to pump oil from ANWR in 5 or ten years?' The question is 'why aren't we pumping oil from the stockpile of 68 million acres of domestic drilling permits today?'" said Anne Barth.
"Most oil and gasoline is bought and sold several times by speculators before it gets to us consumers. That system needs to change, but Big Oil has had their way in Congress for too long. In spite of the record profits and ridiculous price at the pumps, some remain committed to protecting the status quo for Big Oil. Their lobby is very powerful, and their friends in Congress remain very loyal to them.
"While Big Oil is busy stockpiling drilling permits before their friends in the White House leave office, Rep. Rahall and his colleagues are asking why we should give ANWR to Big Oil now while they are already sitting on 10,000 permits they aren't drilling. I think it's a question the American people should be asking too," Barth said.
"Why are we pretending ANWR is holding up progress when we already have oil and gas permits on 68 million acres of land that are being stockpiled instead of drilled? No real progress can be made on meeting America 's energy needs unless we are able to have an honest discussion."
We've been trying to find the original source for that mysterious meme about China drilling for oil off the coast of Cuba and Florida.
It's flat out wrong. The AP debunked it a few days ago after Vice President Dick Cheney tried to pass it off in remarks to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about high energy prices.
But it lives on. GOP operative Mary Matalin repeated it on CNN just last night.
We've traced the evolution of the non-fact and found it emerged a few months ago with an inexplicable spate of letters to the editor at small and regional daily newspapers. Within weeks it was popping up as a talking point among many Republican lawmakers and getting traction from conservative pundits.
In most instances, the Republicans point to the (fake) story as reason to suspend the current moratoriums on offshore drilling that are largely based on environmental concerns. It may also serve to gin up opposition to the Cuban regime, a sentiment that has been vital to GOP support in Florida.
Do you know how you can tell when Cheney and Capito lie? Their lips move.
