Landrieu's Pro-Drilling Tantrum

Sen. Mary Landrieu's hold on Obama's new budget chief reveals the lengths to which senators from oil and coal states will go to block serious energy reform.

Mary Landrieu is having a tantrum.

Stamping her feet and holding her breath, Landrieu has threatened to block confirmation of a White House budget chief and vowed to oppose any energy legislation with a ghost of a chance of passing this year unless the administration lifts its deepwater drilling moratorium.

We need not worry that Mary will turn blue and explode. Given the political pressure to resume deepwater exploration, the moratorium is likely to be lifted before the snow flies.

Of more lasting import is that Landrieu’s blockade is an indicator of the favors that politicians representing states heavily dependent on extracting raw energy commodities are prepared to demand for those commodities, no matter how contrary they are to fiscal responsibility or prudent policymaking.

If Landrieu is willing to have a conniption fit over a partial drilling moratorium that is likely to be over and forgotten by New Year’s, imagine the favors for oil that she would demand if, in an outbreak of long-range problem solving, Congress were to seriously consider legislation to ratchet down dependence on oil in order to put a kink in the fire hose of American dollars pouring into the coffers of crooks, coup plotters, and cartel bosses that export petroleum.

Or the favors that Jay Rockefeller and others in King Coal’s entourage would demand if such legislation made a stab at competing with China before the Middle Kingdom conquers the low-carbon energy technology world and starts selling us a great deal more than shoddy toys and rotting drywall.

Or the favors the oil and coal delegations would demand in exchange for at least hedging our bets on climate change, shifting to more dependence on nuclear and renewables, and reducing the risk of a low-probability, high-impact shift in climate dynamics that modern society would be ill-equipped to cope with.

The same day that Landrieu rolled her grenade on the floor, GE CEO Jeff Immelt stood up at a smart grid conference and pronounced our current approach to energy “stupid.”

And we all know what Forrest Gump said about “stupid.”