McCain Needs to Do His Homework About Offshore Drilling and Environmental Safety

Yesterday, Nancy Pfotenhauer, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) senior policy adviser, claimed that she had been “ misinformed” when she falsely stated that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita “ did not spill a drop of oil.”

Today, McCain made another “misinformed” argument, claiming that oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico “have survived, very successfully, the impacts of hurricanes”:

Q: I’ve been listening to your comments around renewable resources -- solar, tide, and wind –- you’ve talked a lot about that, but you keep peppering your comments with offshore drilling. But I’m not sure what you think the impact on our environment is based on that.

A: Keep the microphone. I’m aware that off the coast of Louisiana and Texas there are oil rigs, as we well know, and those rigs have survived, very successfully, the impacts of hurricanes –- hurricane Katrina as far as Louisiana is concerned.

McCain is wrong.