Progress Illinois

If Marty Ozinga somehow finds his way onto Capitol Hill, he'll no doubt have a friend in GOP Rep. John Shimkus from Illinois' 9th District, who humored WLS talk show host Don Wade yesterday morning with talk of Don's favorite pet project: oil drilling.

Mocking "the Al Gores of the world and the environmental left" for their opposition to additional oil extraction, Shimkus gleefully exclaimed, "I'm a driller, so I'm with you!" He then extolled the same tired laundry list of solutions to America's energy crisis -- drilling in ANWR and elsewhere, increasing our nuclear reserves, subsidizing coal production -- that wouldn't significantly lower energy prices or protect the environment.

It's truly surreal to hear both Shimkus and Don bemoan Al Gore and "enviro extremists" for "playing on people's emotions" by discussing the dangers of climate change. Perhaps they are confusing emotions with ... facts:

The award to Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reflects a growing conviction on the part of scientists, politicians and economists that emissions and the global warming they produce will lead not only to more pollution but could also create economic mayhem, social upheaval and conflicts between nations or groups trying to survive in an increasingly hostile natural environment.