Washington Post Hires Minimum Wage High School Students for Coverage of Drilling Issues

That must be the case because real newspaper people wouldn't just report what the Democrats and Republicans say about drilling, they would actually tell readers what the facts are. This article reports Republican complaints about the Democrats reluctance to open areas to offshore drilling, but it doesn't bother to tell readers that opening these areas to drilling will have about as much impact on the price of gas over the next decade as having Sarah Palin go out and shoot a moose. Even in the longer term, the impact of additional drilling would have only slightly more impact on the price of gas than shooting moose in Alaska. The Energy Information Agency estimates that the amount of oil in these areas could eventually supply about 0.2 percent of world production, which could lower the price of gas by 3-4 cents a gallon in 20 years. The article does tell readers that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is "worried about the effect of offshore drilling and conservative Democrats concerned that $4-a-gallon gasoline prices this summer have left them vulnerable to GOP opponents in the November elections." This statement is a testament to the incredibly bad reporting on this issue, since everyone should know that drilling offshore will no have effect on the price of gas for a decade and only a trivial effect even in the more distant future.

--Dean Baker