Federal government can’t solve alone

Aff Cards

States CP – Perm Solves

Federal government can’t solve alone

Amy McIntire, civil litigation associate at Chaffe McCall LLP, Notre Dame Law, 2/24/14, “OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF: THE UPHILL BATTLE FOR STATE INPUT INTO FEDERAL POLICY” Texas Journal of Oil, Gas, and Energy Law, http://tjogel.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/10_Volume-9-Issue-1-McIntire_Final.pdf //RX

Cooperation between state and federal governments in OCS development is required for a variety of reasons. First, since OCS regulation and programs often “affect land use, lifestyles, and local economic activity, federal officials often solicit local support through cooperation in order to alleviate local concerns about federal intrusion into local matters.”150 Second, the federal government alone does not possess adequate resources to address all of the nation’s environmental regulatory programs and problems without help from state and local authorities.151 Finally, given the size and diversity of U.S. offshore lands, such cooperation is needed to take into account the variation of environmental concerns among the many regions and the policy considerations involved in environmental decision-making.152 The ability of states to individually tailor environmental regulation to fit the specific needs of the local region is perhaps the greatest benefit of cooperative federalism.153

Politics Links

1NC Link

Obama can only lose political capital by advocating offshore drilling

Hobson 4/18 Margaret is a writer for E&E Publishing. “OFFSHORE DRILLING: Obama's development plans gain little political traction in years since Gulf spill,” 2012, http://www.eenews.net/public/energywire/2012/04/18/1

“OFFSHORE DRILLING: Obama's development plans gain little political traction in years since Gulf spill,” President Obama is embracing the offshore oil and gas development policies he proposed in early 2010 but were sidelined in the shadow of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.¶ Two years after the BP PLC oil rig exploded, killing 11 people and causing the worst oil spill in U.S. history, Obama's "all of the above" energy policy includes offshore drilling provisions that are nearly identical to his aggressive March 2010 drilling plan.¶ Since the moratorium on offshore oil drilling ended in late 2010, the administration expanded oil and gas development in the western and central Gulf of Mexico and announced plans for lease sales in the eastern Gulf. The White House appears poised to allow Royal Dutch Shell PLC to begin exploring for oil this summer in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi seas and to open oil industry access to the Cook Inlet, south of Anchorage. The administration is also paving the way for oil and gas seismic studies along the mid- and south Atlantic coasts, the first such survey in 30 years.¶ While opening more offshore lands to oil and gas development, the Obama administration has also taken steps to make offshore oil drilling safer, according to a report card issued yesterday by Oil Spill Commission Action, an oversight panel formed by seven members of President Obama's oil spill commission.¶ That report criticized Congress for failing to adopt new oil spill safety laws but praised the Interior Department and industry for making progress in improving offshore oil development safety, environmental protection and oil spill preparation.¶ An environmental group was less complimentary. A report yesterday by Oceana charged that the measures adopted by government and industry are "woefully inadequate."¶ As the 2012 presidential campaign heats up and gasoline prices remain stuck near $4 per gallon, Obama's offshore oil development policies aren't winning him any political capital. The environmental community hates the drilling proposals. The Republicans and oil industry officials complain that the White House hasn't gone far enough. And independent voters are confused by the president's rhetoric.

2NC/1NR Link Wall

Plan sparks a fight kills pc

Morgan, 11 (Curtis, Tampa Bay Times, “A year after Deepwater Horizon disaster, opposition to oil drilling fades” 4/18, http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/a-year-after-deepwater-horizon-disaster-opposition-to-oil-drilling-fades/1164429) Nelson=Florida Senator Bill Nelson, Fuller = Manley Fuller, president of the Florida Wildlife Federation

In Washington, the Obama administration has adopted what Interior Secretary Salazar called a "thoughtful and deliberate approach'' to reopening the gulf, with a new oversight agency and new safety measures — notably, one mandating that the industry develop deep-water containment systems for worst-case blowouts, like the one that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon. In October, the White House lifted the drilling ban it imposed after the BP spill but didn't start issuing new permits until last month, approving 10 new deep water wells so far, with 15 more in process. The administration also agreed to open new territory for exploration by selling new leases — but only in the already heavily drilled central and western gulf. The three bills approved by a House committee last week don't target Florida waters specifically but lawmakers potentially could use them as tools to carve out prime areas for drilling, or shrink or lift the moratorium. For now, with the House and Senate controlled by different parties, it's doubtful any drilling bill can make it out of Congress. Nelson and most environmentalists believe the ban on Florida's federal waters can survive political pressure and maneuvering. "President Obama would have to lose and Bill Nelson would have to lose and they'd have to be replaced by people who want to remove that boundary,'' said Fuller of the Florida Wildlife Federation. "I don't think that is going to happen.'' A more serious threat, they say, is the possibility of a future Florida Legislature opening up state-controlled waters. That move would make it politically difficult to justify a continuing federal ban. A coalition of environmental groups, Save Our Seas, Beaches and Shores, launched a petition drive after the 2009 House vote to put a ban on drilling in state waters into the Florida Constitution. Former Gov. Charlie Crist's effort to do the same thing during a special legislative session in July proved dead on arrival. So far, Fuller acknowledged, only a few thousand signatures have been gathered through an online site, far short of the nearly 700,000 needed. In February, Crist's former chief financial officer, Alex Sink, who lost the governor's race to Scott, agreed to co-chair the petition drive with the goal of getting an amendment proposal on the ballot by 2012 or, more realistically, the following year. Fuller doesn't anticipate lawmakers trying to ram through a divisive drilling bill in the near future but "that is one reason why we want it in the Constitution. We don't want to see it as a possibility at all.''

Guaranteed fight – for every group that supports the plan, powerful groups will fight it

Dloughy, 11/7/12 – reporter in the Hearst Newspapers Washington Bureau (Jennifer, “Obama and the environment - a new path?” San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Obama-and-the-environment-a-new-path-4018611.php

President Obama enters a second term in the White House free to toughen regulations on domestic drilling despite industry objections - and to approve natural gas exports and the controversial Keystone XL pipeline without fear of alienating environmentalists he needed at the ballot box. But the newly unfettered president will be navigating many of the same political obstacles he faced during the first term, when his administration balanced new pollution regulations by delaying mercury rules for power plants and giving the oil industry big concessions as part of other environmental mandates. Obama also will be facing a sharply divided Congress, with Republicans eager to use their House control to undercut new environmental requirements and Democrats in charge of the Senate pushing back against efforts to weaken them. "The president faces checks and balances from Congress," noted Benjamin Salisbury, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets. "He also faces checks and balances from litigation, from industry and negotiations and environmental groups."

And, empirics - Plan’s historically unpopular in Congress

Goode, 11 – staff writer for Politico (Darren, Politico, 5/18, "Senate slams GOP drilling bill", http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55241.html

A Senate Republican offshore drilling bill died Wednesday due to opposition from Democrats and criticism from within the GOP that the measure didn't go far enough in enabling new production. The 42-57 vote left sponsors well short of the needed 60 for the motion to proceed to pass. Five Republicans voted no — Sens. Jim DeMint, Mike Lee, Richard Shelby, Olympia Snowe and David Vitter. No Democrats voted yes; Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus didn't vote.

2NC/1NR Turn shield

No turns---liberals hate the plan and conservatives won’t give Obama credit for it

Walsh 11, Bryan, TIME Senior editor, November 9, “Why Obama’s Offshore Drilling Plan Isn’t Making Anyone Happy,” http://science.time.com/2011/11/09/why-obamas-offshore-drilling-plan-isnt-making-anyone-happy/#ixzz26snhDbbI

Nonetheless, Obama has set a target of reducing U.S. oil imports by a third by 2025, and greater domestic oil production is going to have to be a part of that—including oil from the Arctic. Unfortunately for the President, no one’s likely to cheer him. Conservatives and the oil industry won’t be happy until just about every square foot of the country is available for drilling—though it is worth noting that oil production offshore has actually increased under Obama—and environmentalists aren’t going to rally to support any sort of expanded drilling. With energy, as with so many other issues for Obama, it’s lonely at the center.

Relaxing drilling restrictions empirically causes backlash---no risk of offense

Broder 10 John is a writer for the New York Times. “Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time,” March 31, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/science/earth/31energy.html?_r=0

But while Mr. Obama has staked out middle ground on other environmental matters — supporting nuclear power, for example — the sheer breadth of the offshore drilling decision will take some of his supporters aback. And it is no sure thing that it will win support for a climate bill from undecided senators close to the oil industry, like Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, or Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana.¶ The Senate is expected to take up a climate bill in the next few weeks — the last chance to enact such legislation before midterm election concerns take over. Mr. Obama and his allies in the Senate have already made significant concessions on coal and nuclear power to try to win votes from Republicans and moderate Democrats. The new plan now grants one of the biggest items on the oil industry’s wish list — access to vast areas of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling.¶ But even as Mr. Obama curries favors with pro-drilling interests, he risks a backlash from some coastal governors, senators and environmental advocates, who say that the relatively small amounts of oil to be gained in the offshore areas are not worth the environmental risks.

AT: Oil Lobby

Majority of congress opposes – despite oil lobby

NFN 12 “The Politics of Energy” News From Nowhere, July 6, 2012, http://newsfromnowhere.info/archive/issue-15-april-20-2012/the-politics-of-energy

The oil industry is one of America's biggest recipients of corporate welfare, sucking up $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies every year. It's a worthy cause, of course: Big guns like Exxon-Mobil rake in a paltry $9 billion each quarter in profits (free and clear – not gross income), so they need the charity of the working-class taxpayer to stay afloat. But the oil industry came pretty close to losing their subsidies last week, when the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act, backed by President Obama, came to a vote in the U.S. Senate. The bill failed on a 51-48 vote. Even though a majority supported the bill, proponents didn’t get the 60 votes they needed for ‘cloture,’ which moves the bill to a vote. Some 88% of oil and gas industry campaign contributions went to Republicans last year, and the investment paid off. In the Senate that was able to buy the votes of all but two – Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, the two famously moderate Republicans from Maine. The 48 Senators who voted against removing the oil industries subsidies received almost $18 million in campaign contributions from the employees and political action committees of oil and gas companies during their Congressional careers, while the 51 Senators who voted to get rid of the taxpayer subsidies received $3.7 million. Want to know what’s driving America’s politics? Follow the money. Certainly today's political climate is not nearly as favorable to the oil industry as the halcyon days of the Bush administration. With the former CEO of Arbusto Petroleum at as Chief Executive and his trusty sidekick Dick Cheney of Halliburton fame occupying the White House, they stacked federal agencies with oil executives and lobbyists, appointing the industry's most vacal supporters to oversee regulation. Gale Norton, protege of James Watt at the Mountain States Legal Foundation, spent her career as a lawyer defending the biggest polluters in the oil industry, was appointed as Secretary of the Interior, in charge of the Bureau of Land Management, the agency that regulates most federal oil and gas operations. (Now she works for Shell). Steven Griles, a notorious coalbed methane industry lobbyist who did a lot of his dirty work in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, was appointed Assistant Secretary in charge of Lands and Minerals.