Spill Here, Spill Now 0
No matter how much oil is found, it is unlikely to make much difference in the long run, whereas seriously developing alternative sources of energy will help now and later.
Read further down and the Regent is all about using off-shore oil to get revenue for the state, even though there is currently no revenue sharing for off-shore drilling. By canonizing the belief that taxes are inherently evil, Republicans have made themselves prey to trying to pay for legitimate government services in questionable ways.
It’s analogous to Pennsylvania Governor Rendell’s notion that more casinos would solve everything (Rendell is a Democrat).
That’s not working out so well either.