Ted Danson On Offshore Drilling - in 1991 - Oceana USA
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June 4, 2010

Ted Danson On Offshore Drilling – in 1991

I thought it was prescient when Oceana board member Ted Danson testified before Congress early last year about the dangers of offshore drilling. Now, in the midst of the biggest oil disaster in U.S. history, Ted has become one of the most visible critics of the oil industry and its false promises, most recently with an appearance on Larry King Live last week.

Ted’s ocean activism goes farther back than the oil disaster, of course. I dug up a newspaper story about Ted’s first appearance before Congress in April 1991. Still at the height of Cheers fame, Ted is introduced thusly:

“Gone was the carefully blown-dried hair, the red Corvette and the babe-seeking wandering eye of the country’s most famous bartender: Cheer’s [sic] star Ted Danson wanted to be taken seriously when he told Congress that President Bush’s Energy Policy basically stinks.”

The article, written with some skepticism about a Hollywood star’s place in the halls of Congress, quoted Rep. Wayne Allard, who compared the amount of oil spilled into the oceans to “the teaspoon or so of gas that dribbles down the side of cars at the gas pump. ‘Is that an unacceptable risk?’ Allard asked.”

Nearly twenty years later, it’s not hard to tell who was vindicated by history, even if it’s a bitter victory. As Ted said then about our energy policy: “It ain’t working, guys. Something’s got to change.”

To view a PDF of the entire newspaper page, including a vintage photo of Paul and Linda McCartney debuting her frozen-foods line, click here.