Trace Adkins Calls President’s Oil-Spill Solution ‘Ridiculous’
Before Trace Adkins became a multi-platinum selling recording artist, he spent several years working in the oil fields. Now, with the tragic oil spill continuing to ravage the Gulf of Mexico, Trace is speaking out on why he thinks the government's plan to cease all off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for six months is a huge mistake.
"I think it's a terrible idea," Trace tells CNN's Anderson Cooper. "That's like kicking a man while he's down. That is the most idiotic, juvenile overreaction. It's an uninformed decision, is what it is. It's just ridiculous. Don't get me started on that. I don't know how many tens of thousands of wells have been drilled in the Gulf of Mexico since since we've been doing it. But how many times have you heard about this happening? I think that's a pretty good track record. And to punish an American company for something that a British company did ... This moratorium is not going to stop anybody else. It's not going to stop British companies. It's not going to stop anybody else. It's going to hurt American companies. Those are the ones that are going to be forced to stop working. And when you just stack drilling rigs, it's not just those men that work on those rigs. You're talking about supply companies, service companies, catering companies. All those people that depend on those drilling rigs working in the Gulf of Mexico....The moratorium on the drilling, that's ridiculous."
Acknowledging that the situation is dire, Trace says that there is hope. "It will stop," he insists. "Nobody's pointing that out either. Wells don't just flow into perpetuity. If they did, we wouldn't have to drill anymore. This well will deplete. It will stop."
Also speaking out on the oil spill is Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, Sammy Kershaw, who agrees with Trace that shutting down all oil drilling is not a viable solution. "You shut this oil drilling down in the Gulf, this thing is going to eventually start trickling up throughout America. It's going to hurt Louisiana, for sure," he says to CNN's Larry King.
"We can't stop drilling," he adds. "I've got to keep going to that -- back to that and our fishermen. We're going to have a lot of people out of work ... They need to plug the hole. They need to plug it right away. They need to make our coastline back to what it was, let our fishermen go back to work, so we can produce 100 percent of the greatest seafood produce in the world, right here in the Gulf of Mexico."
Keith Urban also addressed the oil spill while accepting his CMT Award for Male Video of the Year, saying that he and wife Nicole Kidman sent "their love and prayers" to all the families around the Gulf.
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