Leadership Quote by Jim Costa

The giveaway is the citation: not scientists, not local communities, not even “the American people,” but The Washington Post editorial board. Jim Costa is laundering an extractive agenda through a prestige megaphone, borrowing the paper’s institutional authority to make a contested policy sound like overdue common sense. “For too long” is the classic Washington time stamp of impatience: it frames restraint as irrational delay, not as a choice made for environmental risk, coastal economies, tribal sovereignty, or climate commitments.

The phrase “vast oil and natural gas reserves” is doing emotional work. “Vast” cues scarcity anxiety and national strength; it implies a treasure chest left untouched out of bureaucratic squeamishness. “Off limits” sharpens that into a culture-war posture: the land is not protected, it’s forbidden, as if guarded by ideologues rather than regulations, leases, and ecological constraints. Notice what’s missing: spill risk, methane leakage, price volatility, and the inconvenient fact that expanded drilling doesn’t automatically translate into lower gas prices on a global commodities market.

Context matters: this kind of line typically surfaces when energy prices spike, elections loom, or Democrats feel exposed on “kitchen table” costs. Costa, a centrist Democrat from California, is signaling pragmatism to swing voters and industry alike, packaging it as moderation rather than capitulation. The intent isn’t merely to open acreage; it’s to reframe the debate so that climate-forward limits become the extreme position, and drilling becomes the sober middle. The subtext: don’t blame policymakers for high prices or geopolitical vulnerability; blame the lines on the map.