OFFSHORE DRILLING COMING TO A VOTE: “Congressional Democrats, balancing political reality against a policy they have long opposed, are on the cusp of approving legislation that would open the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to oil drilling as close as 50 miles offshore.” Seems like one thing we want to do is to avoid having too much of our drilling concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico, where one hurricane can disrupt a big fraction of the production. Also, 50 miles seems pretty far offshore to me.