Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is proving himself to be more and more of a maverick lately: While President Obama and other elected officials—including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger—have publicly withdrawn their support for offshore oil drilling over the past week, in light of the massive oil leak devastating the Gulf of Mexico, Perry and Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson say: Bring it on. At a jobs summit in Washington D.C. Monday, Perry called the oil spill “an act of God” and maintained that offshore drilling should be expanded. Patterson, whose office deals with cleaning up oil spills in the Lone Star State, said the accident was isolated and the last spill of similar magnitude happened 31 years ago, and that the BP leak should not stigmatize the entire industry.
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