OFFSHORE DRILLING: Fact Sheet - 9/18/92 September 18, 1992 OFFSHORE DRILLING: GORE DOES THE CLINTON WAFFLE Al Gore, taking a page out of Clinton's dance book, is now trying to hide from his own radical environmental agenda. After stating categorically that he wanted to ban all offshore drilling, and after hearing the angry protests from Texas and Louisiana, he now says that he didn't really mean the Gulf of Mexico. Try as he might, however, Gore cannot hide his true colors. The oil workers of Louisiana and Texas should clearly beware. o Flip: In an interview just two weeks ago, Gore volunteered, "I think that a ban on offshore drilling ought to be extended ... to all of the coastal waters of the United States." (KEYT TV, Ch.3, Santa Barbara, 8/30/92) o Flop: Now Gore finds his position to be a political embarrassment, and wants to hide his true colors. On September 15, Gore said, "I'm in favor only of a moratorium on new rigs in environmentally sensitive areas that have been designated... This would have absolutely zero effect on rigs in the Gulf of Mexico..." (AP, 9/15/92) Clearly, that is not what Gore had advocated only two weeks earlier. o Flip: But back in 1987, Gore also said that he thought that there should be a complete moratorium on oil drilling on the coast. "I feel strongly that our coasts must be protected." (AP, 8/19/87) o A Clintonesque Backpedal: Just like Clinton is backpedalling on so many issues, trying to have it both ways and avoid making decisions until election day, Gore, too, now wants to hide his true colors until it's too late. o Gore Can Run But He Can't Hide: The facts are clear -- Gore truly believes that offshore drilling should be banned in all U.S. coastal waters. He not only volunteered this statement, unsolicited, during his August 30 television interview, but this has been his position going back to 1987. o In now trying to slip away from his own words, we can only conclude that perhaps Al Gore has been spending a bit too much time with Slick Willie. # # #