It's about two weeks before the presidential election and a month until the end of the 2008 hurricane season. For those of us living on the Gulf Coast, hurricane season is a big deal. So is the idea of an oil rig offshore standing in the path of a big storm.

Somewhere between $140/barrel oil and an economy with a hole in its shoe, the national conversation about climate change turned into "drill, baby, drill." These days, recession trumps everything and drilling has become one of the new answers to energy independence. According to most reports, a drill dug tomorrow won't produce for another ten years. A lot of hurricanes can fly through the gulf over ten years and anything sticking up out of the water is fair game to a hurricane.

I admit to a good measure of selfishness when it comes to oil rigs off the coast of Florida, because this is where I live. I also agree that Florida or South Carolina or Massachusetts shouldn't have immunity from the same kind of environmental risk carried by Texas and Louisiana. If it's okay for them, then it ought to be okay for everyone. Or for no one.

That's where it starts and that's where it ends. If "drill, baby, drill" is a necessary part of the energy answer, then does it really matter where the drilling occurs?