Tournament: UNI | Round: 1 | Opponent: Illinois OH | Judge: Arif Hasan

Plan

The Secretary of the Interior should lift the drilling moratorium for the Outer Continental Shelf for natural gas production.

1AC Prices

Natural gas prices are low now but spikes in demand are inevitable

Larry Spears (writer for Resource Investor) July 20, 2012 "These Natural Gas Stocks Will Bounce Back" http://www.resourceinvestor.com/2012/07/20/these-natural-gas-stocks-will-bounce-back?t=commodities
But prices for this plentiful alternative fuel are just beginning to turn higher after a
AND
– would also bolster natural gas prices and prospects for natural gas companies.

Demand outweighs now – plan is key to balance supply increases

Kane, 8/6 senior reporter for Hartford Business Journal (Brad Kane, Hartford Business Journal, 6 August 2012, "Booming demand for natural gas pushes up prices," http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120806/PRINTEDITION/308039977)//CC
The demand for natural gas nationwide and in Connecticut increased drastically over the last couple
AND
In 2013, we forecast increases in total consumption while production remains flat."

Otherwise, the price spike will be quick and massive

Finger, 7/27 Forbes contributor (Richard Finger, Forbes, 27 July 2012, "Natural Gas Is Heading Higher: More Data," http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardfinger/2012/07/27/more-data-natural-gas-is-heading-higher/)//CC
So when, not if, gas reaches %245.00 undoubtedly many drilled
AND
upon us. %248.00 gas is coming, so prepare.
 

Crushes manufacturing

Baker Institute, ’8 (Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, Baker Institute Policy Report, January 2008, "Natural Gas in North America: Markets and Security," http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/30064519/study-lift-u-s-drilling-restrictions-avoid-international-lng-cartel-http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/30064519/study-lift-u-s-drilling-restrictions-avoid-international-lng-cartel)CC
Already, the United States has seen some industry sectors move offshore in response to
AND
of the U.S. petrochemical industry as feedstock costs become prohibitive.

Low prices lock in a manufacturing renaissance – draws companies back to the US

Jim Motavalli (Staff Writer for the New York Times specializing in Environmental journalism) April 2012 "Natural Gas Signals a ’Manufacturing Renaissance’" http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/business/energy-environment/wider-availability-expands-uses-for-natural-gas.html?_r=1%26pagewanted=all-http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/business/energy-environment/wider-availability-expands-uses-for-natural-gas.html?_r=1%26pagewanted=all
The rapid development of shale gas technology has helped reduce energy imports and, in
AND
of new jobs and a greater investment in U.S. plants." 

Otherwise a complete collapse in domestic R%26D is inevitable

Michael Lind (policy director of New America’s Economic Growth Program and a co-founder of the New America Foundation) and Joshua Freedman (program associate in New America’s Economic Growth Program) April 2012 "Value Added: America’s Manufacturing Future" http://growth.newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/policydocs/Lind,%20Michael%20and%20Freedman,%20Joshua%20-%20NAF%20-%20Value%20Added%20America%27s%20Manufacturing%20Future.pdf-http://growth.newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/policydocs/Lind, Michael and Freedman, Joshua - NAF - Value Added America%27s Manufacturing Future.pdf
Manufacturing, R%26D and the U.S. Innovation Ecosystem Perhaps the
AND
might not find employment if R%26D were offshored along with production.

Scenario 1 is the Economy

Economic shocks are inevitable – strong domestic manufacturing is key to economic resilience and retaining our innovation leadership

Michael Ettlinger (the Vice President for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress, former director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network of the Economic Policy Institute) and Kate Gordon (the Vice President for Energy Policy at the Center for American Progress. Most recently, Kate was the co-director of the national Apollo Alliance, where she still serves as senior policy advisor. Former senior associate at the Center on Wisconsin Strategy) April 2011 "The Importance and Promise of American Manufacturing" http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/04/pdf/manufacturing.pdf-http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/04/pdf/manufacturing.pdfManufacturing is critically important to the American economy. For generations, the strength of our country rested on the power of our factory floors—both the machines and the men and women who worked them. We need manufacturing to continue to be a bedrock of strength for generations to come. Manufacturing is woven into the structure of our economy: Its importance goes far beyond what happens behind the factory gates. The strength or weakness of American manufacturing carries implications for the entire economy, our national security, and the well-being of all Americans. Manufacturing today accounts for 12 percent of the U.S. economy and about 11 percent of the private-sector workforce. But its significance is even greater than these numbers would suggest. The direct impact of manufacturing is only a part of the picture. First, jobs in the manufacturing sector are good middle-class jobs for millions of Americans. Those jobs serve an important role, offering economic opportunity to hard-working, middle-skill workers. This creates upward mobility and broadens and strengthens the middle class to the benefit of the entire economy. What’s more, U.S.-based manufacturing underpins a broad range of jobs that are quite different from the usual image of manufacturing. These are higher-skill service jobs that include the accountants, bankers, and lawyers that are associated with any industry, as well as a broad range of other jobs including basic research and technology development, product and process engineering and design, operations and maintenance, transportation, testing, and lab work. Many of these jobs are critical to American technology and innovation leadership. The problem today is this: Many multinational corporations may for a period keep these higher-skill jobs here at home while they move basic manufacturing elsewhere in response to other countries’ subsidies, the search for cheaper labor costs, and the desire for more direct access to overseas markets, but eventually many of these service jobs will follow. When the basic manufacturing leaves, the feedback loop from the manufacturing floor to the rest of a manufacturing operation—a critical element in the innovative process—is eventually broken. To maintain that feedback loop, companies need to move higher-skill jobs to where they do their manufacturing. And with those jobs goes American leadership in technology and innovation. This is why having a critical mass of both manufacturing and associated service jobs in the United States matters. The "industrial commons" that comes from the crossfertilization and engagement of a community of experts in industry, academia, and government is vital to our nation’s economic competitiveness. Manufacturing also is important for the nation’s economic stability. The experience of the Great Recession exemplifies this point. Although manufacturing plunged in 2008 and early 2009 along with the rest of the economy, it is on the rebound today while other key economic sectors, such as construction, still languish. Diversity in the economy is important—and manufacturing is a particularly important part of the mix. Although manufacturing is certainly affected by broader economic events, the sector’s internal diversity—supplying consumer goods as well as industrial goods, serving both domestic and external markets— gives it great potential resiliency. Finally, supplying our own needs through a strong domestic manufacturing sector protects us from international economic and political disruptions. This is most obviously important in the realm of national security, even narrowly defined as matters related to military strength, where the risk of a weak manufacturing capability is obvious. But overreliance on imports and substantial manufacturing trade deficits weaken us in many ways, making us vulnerable to everything from exchange rate fluctuations to trade embargoes to natural disasters.

Economic collapse causes global nuclear war

Friedberg and Schoenfeld, 2008  ~[Aaron, Prof. Politics. And IR @ Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School and Visiting Scholar @ Witherspoon Institute, and Gabriel, Senior Editor of Commentary and Wall Street Journal, "The Dangers of a Diminished America" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html~]
Then there are the dolorous consequences of a potential collapse of the world’s financial architecture
AND
of these countries seek to divert attention from internal travails with external adventures.

Prefer our impacts – strong statistical backing

Royal 10 – Jedediah Royal, Director of Cooperative Threat Reduction at the U.S. Department of Defense, 2010, "Economic Integration, Economic Signaling and the Problem of Economic Crises," in Economics of War and Peace: Economic, Legal and Political Perspectives, ed. Goldsmith and Brauer, p. 213-214
Less intuitive is how periods of economic decline may increase the likelihood of external conflict
AND
popularity, are statistically linked to an increase in the use of force.  

Scenario 2 is Hegemony

Manufacturing key to overall military superiority and deterrence

Mackenzie Eaglen et al (American Enterprise Institute, Rebecca Grant, IRIS Research, Robert P. Haffa, Haffa Defense Consulting, Michael O’Hanlon, The Brookings Institution, Peter W. Singer, The Brookings Institution, Martin Sullivan, Commonwealth Consulting, Barry Watts, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments) January 2012 "The Arsenal of Democracy and How to Preserve It: Key Issues in Defense Industrial Policy
Yet there are severe challenges that could result to the nation’s security interests even with
AND
questions to ensure these capabilities are not lost in a matter of years.

U.S. hegemonic decline causes global great-power war, collapses trade and spreads economic nationalism and protectionism

Zhang %26 Shi 11 – Yuhan Zhang, researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Lin Shi, Columbia University, independent consultant for the Eurasia Group and consultant for the World Bank, January 22, 2011, "America’s decline: A harbinger of conflict and rivalry," East Asia Forum, online: http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/

This does not necessarily mean that the US is in systemic decline, but it
AND
forecast in a future that will inevitably be devoid of unrivalled US primacy.

1AC Warming

Natural gas overwhelmingly reduces emissions – leads to clean tech development and sequestration

Schrag 12—Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology at Harvard University, Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering, and Director of the Harvard University Center for the Environment, Ph.D. in geology from UC Berkeley (Daniel P., Daedalus, 141.2, Spring 2012, Is Shale Gas Good for Climate Change?, Academic OneFile, RBatra)
Is the natural gas boom good for climate change mitigation, independent of other environmental
AND
in a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of nearly a factor of three.

Natural gas’s net GHG emissions are negative – this assumes methane release

Abby W. Schachter (Writer for the Weekly Standard and the New York Post) June 2012 "We’ve got to become energy independent to slow terrorism-fracking is the key" http://www.zimbio.com/Fracking+Lawsuits/articles/2ymubk5GzT3/ve+got+become+energy+independent+slow+terrorism-http://www.zimbio.com/Fracking+Lawsuits/articles/2ymubk5GzT3/ve+got+become+energy+independent+slow+terrorism
As for Howarth’s research on fracking’s carbon footprint, his conclusions were quickly debunked by
AND
rules—once its experts have had sufficient time to study the issue.

Independently, lifting the moratorium is key to developing the tech to extract methane hydrates – independently solves dependence

US Chamber of Commerce, no date (Institute for 21^st Century Energy, Chamber of Commerce, no date given (website registered 2011), "Immediately Expand Domestic Oil and Gas Exploration and Production," http://www.energyxxi.org/immediately-expand-domestic-oil-and-gas-exploration-and-production)//CC-http://www.energyxxi.org/immediately-expand-domestic-oil-and-gas-exploration-and-production)//CC
Another potential source of significant amounts of domestic natural gas is methane hydrates, an
AND
gas on the OCS also acts to thwart work to develop methane hydrates.

Methane hydrates will inevitably be released – tech developments key to solve runaway warming

Embleton, ’8 Author of "Oilephant Down: Canada at the end of Cheap Oil". Owner Yahoo Group "RunningOnEmptyCA", author of blog oilbeseeingyou.blogspot.com. Thirty years experience in computer systems, much of it in the oil and petrochemical industry. Lifetime member of Mensa Canada. Ten years experience in health food industry (Richard Embleton, Energy Bulletin, 5 December 2008, "Methand Hydrates: What are they thinking?" http://www.energybulletin.net/node/47505)//CC-http://www.energybulletin.net/node/47505)//CC
A chunk of methane ice exposed to the air and ignited will burn until all
AND
extremely worrying to anyone who accepts the validity of the global warming theory.

And, methane hydrates make the difference between solving and runaway warming

RC, ’5 (RealClimate, Realclimate.org, 12 December 2005, "Methane hydrates and global warming," http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2005/12/methane-hydrates-and-global-warming/)//CC
The other possibility for our future is an increase in the year-in,
AND
and failure in avoiding ’dangerous’ anthropogenic climate change. That’s scary enough.

Warming is real and causes extinction

Morgan 9 – Professor of Current Affairs @ Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea (Dennis Ray, "World on fire: two scenarios of the destruction of human civilization and possible extinction of the human race", Futures, Volume 41, Issue 10, December 2009, Pages 683-693, ScienceDirect)

As horrifying as the scenario of human extinction by sudden, fast-burning nuclear
AND
Russian roulette while time increasingly stacks the cards against our chances of survival?

1AC Solvency

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act empowers the Secretary of the Interior to control oil and gas leasing allowing the interior department to control the moratorium.

Pyle 12 (Thomas J Pyle - President of the Institute for Energy Research, "Energy Department sneaks offshore moratorium past public", http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/9/energy-department-sneaks-offshore-moratorium-past-/-http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/9/energy-department-sneaks-offshore-moratorium-past-/, 7/9/12) AC
While the Obama administration was taking a victory lap last week after the 5-
AND
the sale of oil and gas leases to meet America’s national energy needs.

Status quo locks 98% of offshore natural gas production

Pyle 7/10 (Thomas J., July 10, 2012, "Energy Department sneaks offshore moratorium past public; Jobs and oil-supply potential are shut down," The Washington Times, lexis) 
While the Obama administration was taking a victory lap last week after the 5-
AND
the above" president is responsible for increased production and reduced oil import.

It is directly responsible for all-time production lows

Hastings, 7/23 (Rep. Doc Hastings, The Hill, 23 July 2012, "President Obama’s offshore drilling plan must be replaced," http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-a-environment/239529-president-obamas-offshore-drilling-plan-must-be-replaced)//CC
The president’s plan only offers 15 lease sales limited to the Gulf of Mexico and
AND
to keep the United States’ energy resources under lock-and-key.

That doubles production

Baker Institute, ’8 (Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, Baker Institute Policy Report, January 2008, "Natural Gas in North America: Markets and Security," http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/30064519/study-lift-u-s-drilling-restrictions-avoid-international-lng-cartel-http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/30064519/study-lift-u-s-drilling-restrictions-avoid-international-lng-cartel)CC
As might be expected, the lower requirements for LNG under this scenario stem from
AND
0.10 tcf by 2015 and 0.93 tcf by 2025.

Plan expands production – kick starts nearly 100 new projects

Paul Hillegeist et al (President and COO at Quest Offshore Resources, Inc, Sean Shafer, Project Director, Andrew Jackson, Project Manager, Leslie Cook , Senior Research Consultant) December 2011 "The State of the Offshore U.S. Oil and Gas Industry" http://energytomorrow.org/images/uploads/Quest_2011_December_29_Final.pdf
If drilling permits going forward were to be issued at pre‐moratorium rates,
AND
to the nation in terms of energy security, employment and government revenue.

Otherwise,  unpredictable regulatory shifts will crush predictability and timing of projects

Curry L. Hagerty (Specialist in Energy and Natural Resources Policy at the Congressional Research Service) June 15, 2010 "Outer Continental Shelf Moratoria on Oil and Gas Development" http://crs.ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/10Jul/R41132.pdf
One legacy of congressional moratoria is their impact on the timing of possible OCS development
AND
restrictions were defensible in the absence of more permanent alternatives for similar leasing prohibitions

Tournament: UNI | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Read @ UNI

Bookchin is wrong—there is no correlation between hierarchy and domination of nature.

White, 03. Lecturer at Goldsmith College. "Hierarchy, Domination, Nature," Organization and Environment, Sage Journals, Damian Finbar.

It would seem evident, though, that the historical sequence Bookchin (1995b)
AND
to conceptualise a relatively nonhierarchical society that is nevertheless extremely exploitative ecologically. 22 

There is no correlation between hierarchy and social domination—the alternative is more likely to increase social domination.

White, 03. Damian Finbar , Lecturer at Goldsmith College. "Hierarchy, Domination, Nature," Organization and Environment, Sage Journals.

To move on from the organic society issue then, how plausible is the rest
AND
hierarchy, social domination, and the "idea" of dominating nature?

Perm solves: Bookchin thinks that a wide variety of political strategies need to be tried simultaneously.

Bookchin and Foreman, 91 – Murray, founder of the social ecology movement within a libertarian/ecological thought, and Dave, US environmentalist and founder of Earth First%21 (Defending the Earth: a dialogue between Murray Bookchin and Dave Foreman, South End Press @ Boston, Ed. 1, Pg. 39-40)  AK

We were pretty clear from the beginning, however, that we were not
AND
we’re covering all the bases. We need all the approaches and angles.

Bioregionalism would cause more rapid environmental destruction.

White, 03. Lecturer at Goldsmith College. "Hierarchy, Domination, Nature," Organization and Environment, Sage Journals, Damian Finbar.

More substantial difficulties with organic society can be found at the methodological level. One
AND
relations to animals as other was largely complementary" (p. xlvii). 

The transition to bioregionalism will cause major wars.

Taylor, 2000 – Oshkosh Foundation Professor of Religion and Social Ethics, and Director of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin (Bron, Beneath the Surface, 2000, pg. 282) 

It is not clear, however, that in the long run and on every
AND
but often overlooked point about political power, political theorist Daniel Deudney warns:

Bookchin’s bioregionalism would result in small, oppressive communities.

Carter, 07. Senior Lecturer in Politics @ University of York. "The Politics of the Environment," p. 59, Neil.

Decentralization may be a necessary condition for participatory democracy, but there is no guarantee
AND
ironically, the homogenous decentralized society may lack the diversity that ecologists value.

Bookchin’s alternative fails—small societies force conformity that prevent innovation and undermine cooperation.

diZerega, 92. PhD in Political Theory and Visiting Assistant professor in the Department of Government, St. Lawrence University. Gus, Spring/Summer, "SOCIAL ECOLOGY, DEEP ECOLOGY, AND LIBERALISM," Critical Review, http://www.dizerega.com/papers/socecol.pdf.

From a neoliberal perspective I will develop two basic criticisms of Bookchin’s argument. First
AND
market’s role in coordinating intricate relationships among independent entities is a fatal weakness.

Bookchin’s ideological focus alienates the public and prevents a broad-scale movement.

Clark, 98. John, Professor of Philosophy at Loyola. "Municipal Dreams: A Social Ecological Critique of Bookchin’s Politics," http://raforum.info/article.php3?id_article=1039.

While "the People" are identified by Bookchin as the emerging subject of history
AND
, a more expansive vision of the socially-transformative practice is necessary.

Bioregionalism is too isolated to solve—international solutions are needed.

Taylor, 2000 – Oshkosh Foundation Professor of Religion and Social Ethics, and Director of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin (Bron, Beneath the Surface, 2000, pg. 282) 

Bioregionalism generally fails to grapple adequately with the problem of power. Consequently, it
AND
deep ecological spirituality, hoping, self-consciously, for a miracle. 

Engaging institutions is essential to protect the environment – bioregionalism and localized activism does not provide not a lens for substantive social change

Harvey, 99 – Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York (David, Global Ethics and Environment)

But the content and spirit of any such ’revolutionary’ movement is a very much more
AND
future geographies of production, distribu¬tion, consumption and exchange might be produced. 

Tournament: UNI | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Read @ UNI

No Impact

Neither president can or will make a move quickly – no Congressional support

Michael Schmidt 8-22-2012; Energy Group Lead, GolinHarris Different emphasis, about same result http://energy.nationaljournal.com/2012/08/sizing-up-romney-and-obama-ene.php
~[Regardless of who wins the White House, what should the next president prioritize in these areas?~]
AND
The impact of their policies won’t be felt for years if not decades.

No impact – Romney will copy Obama on foreign policy

Aaron David Miller, 5-23-2012; distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Barack O’Romney http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/23/barack_oromney
And that brings up an extraordinary fact. What has emerged in the second decade
AND
much in terms of actual policy implementation — there’s a much greater convergence. 

Romney is a pragmatist – no risk of neocon-driven wars

Peter Foster 7-25-2012;  Peter Foster is the Telegraph’s US Editor based in Washington DC. He moved to America in January 2012 after three years based in Beijing, where he covered the rise of China. Before that, he was based in New Delhi as South Asia correspondent. He has reported for The Telegraph for more than a decade, covering two Olympic Games, 9/11 in New York, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the post-conflict phases in Afghanistan and Iraq and the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. "Mitt Romney wants to put the spine back into US foreign policy, but he’s not a warrior. He’s a pragmatist" http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peterfoster/100172414/mitt-romney-wants-to-put-the-spine-back-into-us-foreign-policy-but-hes-not-a-warrior-hes-a-pragmatist/
The Obama campaign will try and cast this as a return to the ’dark
AND
of designating China as a currency manipulator on day one of his presidency.

Link turn

Polls prove the plan is overwhelmingly popular and is a major election issue – Gulf Spill irrelevant

Dlouhy, 8/14 staff writer (Jennifer A Dlouhy, FuelFix, 14 August 2012, "Survey says voters back offshore drilling," http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/08/14/survey-says-voters-back-offshore-drilling/)//CC
Roughly seven out of 10 voters support changing U.S. policy to allow
AND
" of Americans support boosting access to domestic oil and natural gas resources.

Expanding drilling gives Obama election cover – Cuts out Romney’s platform

Broder and Krauss, 5/23 political and business correspondents covering energy (John M. Broder and Clifford Krauss, The New York Times, 23 May 2012, "New and Frozen Frontier Awaits Offshore Drilling," http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/science/earth/shell-arctic-ocean-drilling-stands-to-open-new-oil-frontier.html?pagewanted=1%26_r=1%26hp)//CC
But the president concluded that the reward was worth the risk, and created an
AND
turn around and say, ’I approved drilling in Alaska.’ "

No Internal Link

Plan wouldn’t affect states that make the difference in the election

Joel Kotkin 3-30-2012; executive editor of NewGeography.com and is a distinguished presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University, and contributing editor to the City Journal in New York. He is author of The City: A Global History. His newest book is The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, released in February, 2010. Is Energy the Last Good Issue for Republicans?  http://www.newgeography.com/content/002698-is-energy-last-good-issue-republicans-http://www.newgeography.com/content/002698-is-energy-last-good-issue-republicans
In the short run, Obama’s political exposure in the energy wars is somewhat limited.
AND
removing contrary voices inside the party.

Uniqueness

Romney will win by so much

Chambers 9/13 (Dean, 9/13/12, Mitt Romney possible landslide indicated by polling data released today, http://www.examiner.com/article/mitt-romney-possible-landslide-indicated-by-polling-data-released-today?cid=PROD-redesign-right-next, RBatra)
The latest Rasmussen Reports Daily Presidential Tracking Poll released today shows Mitt Romney back in
AND
AND
a strong turnout by the Republican base could lead to a Romney landslide.

Romney’s massive advantage in both saved money and fundraising will put him in position to clinch a close race – he’s been saving it all for a media blitz at crunch time

Visier 8/22/2012 (Mark Visier – Boston Globe Staff Writer, "Mitt Romney enters campaign’s final months with big edge in donations over President Obama", Boston Globe, August 22 2012, http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/08/21/mitt-romney-enters-campaign-final-months-with-big-edge-donations-over-president-obama/JtS1DZQARZcir9KCx1fBjJ/story.html) AC
WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney is heading into the final three months of the campaign with
AND
expanded use of money to reach voters beyond what has traditionally been done."

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Read @ UNI

Turn—only the neg forgets Being by abandoning empiricism

Latour 2 – Professor, Paris Institute of Political Studies (Bruno, Environmentalism, ed Direk, p 303)

Who has forgotten Being? No one, no one ever has, otherwise Nature
AND
is a surer guide than Heidegger: ’Einai gar kai entautha theous.’

External events—like natural catastrophes—that threaten our existence also threaten the being-ness of Dasein

Svenaeus 10—Centre for Studies in Practical Knowledge, Department of Philosophy, Södertörn University (Fredrik, 24 November 2010, "Illness as unhomelike being-in-the-world: Heidegger and the phenomenology of medicine," Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, Springer, RBatra) *First paragraph is quoting Heidegger’s Being and Time

    If we adhere to this interpretation of the concept of ’meaning’, that
AND
in-the-world of Dasein in their radical and dreadful otherness. 

Extinction turns the alternative

Reilly 8—26 year career in politics during which he founded the nation’s largest political consulting firm of its time. Reilly managed winning campaigns for a wide variety of high-profile candidates, including current Pelosi (Clint, "From Heidegger to the Environment: Californians Are in the World," 19 August 2008, http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/08/from_heidegger.html,)

Even in today’s age of cutting-edge science and technology, it is important
AND
world," no "being," no "we," no "I." 

Instrumental rationality whereby we value ourselves above the objects we encounter is the only way to meaningfully assign value to the natural world and gives us reason not to selfishly destroy it

Kyung-Sig ’3 Prof. Hwang, Kyung-sig, Department of Philosophy, Seoul National University, Korea "10.1 Apology for Environmental Anthropocentrism" Eubios Ethics Institute
http://www.eubios.info/ABC4/abc4304.htm
Galileo’s astronomy forced us to convert a literal to a perspective understanding of the claim
AND
for me, that is all part and parcel of a sophisticated anthropocentrism.

Preventing nuclear war precedes ontology

Santoni 85 - Maria Theresa Barney Chair Emeritus of Philosophy at Denison University (Ronald, "Nuclear War: Philosophical Perspectives" p 156-157)

To be sure, Fox sees the need for our undergoing "certain fundamental changes
AND
will ultimate violence be removed as the final arbiter of our planet’s fate. 

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Read @ UNI

Solvency

States have no authority on the OCS, its federal land

US Chamber of Commerce, no date (Institute for 21st Century Energy, Chamber of Commerce, no date given (website registered 2011), "Immediately Expand Domestic Oil and Gas Exploration and Production," http://www.energyxxi.org/immediately-expand-domestic-oil-and-gas-exploration-and-production)//CC
States have authority over oil and natural gas production within state coastal waters, which
AND
in offshore federal land is regulated under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Congress will roll back contravening judicial decisions

Calabresi 95
Steven G. Calabresi, Associate Professor, Northwestern University School of Law. "A Government of Limited and Enumerated Powers," Michigan Law Review December, 1995
Moreover, even when the Court is determined to resist the policy objectives of a
AND
lead to a dangerous weakening of the constitutional powers of the national government.

A2 Econ NB

States destroy economic leadership

deLisle, 2k – professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania and Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (Jacques, "Foreign Affairs, Federalism, and Well-Meaning Mischief: A Constitutional Close Shave on Massachusetts’s Burma Law," 7/15, http://www.fpri.org/enotes/20000715.law.delisle.massburmalaw.html)
The risk, in short, is one of increased incoherence in the conduct of
AND
domestic democracy, but they can be a Frankenstein’s laboratory for foreign relations.

A2 Healthcare NB

Federalism derails health care reform

Tammy MURRAY 2006 (J.D. Candidate – Indiana University, "State Innovation in Health Care: Congress’ Broad Spending Power Under a National Health Care System will Stifle State Laboratories of Democracy," 3 Ind. Health L. Rev. 263, l/n)

The Supreme Court’s recent decisions in United States v. Lopez 1 and United States
AND
with a federal monopoly on health care at the expense of state innovation. 

Federalism Turns

The CP would be send a massive signal of unpredictability and confusion from the court

Ford 5
Matthew Ford, Law Student at St John’s University School of Law in New York. 9/15/05. "John Roberts, Stare Decisis, and the Return of Lochner: An Impetus to Jump-Start the Labor Movement." Mr. Zine Magazine, A Project of the Monthly Review. http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ford180905.html
Our common law system is based largely on the idea of "stare decisis,"
AND
so forcefully that to even fathom overturning the ruling is to start trouble.

Legal certainty is key to the economy

Roller 5
Lars-Hendrik Röller, European policy perspectives, 2005, Economic Analysis and Competition Policy Enforcement in Europe, http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/speeches/text/sp2005_011_en.pdf
The second challenge to economics and economists in competition policy is legal certainty. Predictability
AND
enhancing predictability and legal certainty guidelines contribute towards the effectiveness of competition policy.

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Read @ UNI

Non-unique – transition to natural gas in the status quo – production is irrelevant, the only question is whether we’re an importer or an exporter

MoneyNews, 6/5 (MoneyNews.com, 5 June 2012, "Natural-Gas Demand to Rise 17% Through 2017 Led by U.S., China, IEA Says," http://www.moneynews.com/Markets/Natural-Gas-Demand-energy/2012/06/05/id/441228) CC
Power generation will account for 66 percent of the increase in gas use in the
AND
. as gas. By 2017, the race will be almost even."

No internal link – regional volatility isolated now – US Natural gas won’t affect Russian Markets

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Interdisciplinary group including: Study Co-chairs Ernes t J. Moniz — Chair Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, MIT Director, MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) He nry D. Jacoby — Co-Chair Professor of Management, MIT Co-director, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change (JP) Anthony J. M. Meggs — Co-Chair Visiting Engineer, MITEI Study Group Robert C. Arms trong Chevron Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT Deputy Director, MITEI Daniel R. Cohn Senior Research Scientist, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, MIT Executive Director, Natural Gas Study John M. Deutch Institute Professor, Department of Chemistry, MIT Gordon M. Kaufman Morris A. Adelman Professor of Management (Emeritus), MIT Melanie A. Kenderdine Executive Director, MITEI Francis O’Sullivan Research Engineer, MITEI Sergey Paltse v Principal Research Scientist, MITEI and JP John E. Parsons Senior Lecturer, Sloan School of Management, MIT Executive Director, JP and Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research Ignacio Pe rez-Arriaga Professor of Electrical Engineering, Comillas University, Spain Visiting Professor, Engineering Systems Division, MIT John M. Re illy Senior Lecturer, Sloan School of Management, MIT Associate Director for Research, JP Mort D. Webster Assistant Professor, Engineering Systems Division, MIT) 2010 "The Future of Natural Gas" http://web.mit.edu/mitei/research/studies/report-natural-gas.pdf-http://web.mit.edu/mitei/research/studies/report-natural-gas.pdf
Currently world gas trade is concentrated in three regional markets: North America, Europe
AND
are major implications for U.S. natural gas production and use.

Diverse supply solves

Baker Institute, ’8 (Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, Baker Institute Policy Report, January 2008, "Natural Gas in North America: Markets and Security," http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/30064519/study-lift-u-s-drilling-restrictions-avoid-international-lng-cartel-http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/30064519/study-lift-u-s-drilling-restrictions-avoid-international-lng-cartel)CC
Significant growth in trade in natural gas has been a major feature of international energy
AND
higher elasticity of demand translates into reduced market power of a potential cartel.

No natural gas cartel – It’s all media hyperbole – they cannot control the market at all

Julian Murdoch (writer for Seeking Alpha and contributor to Hard Assets Investor) October 2008 "Natural Gas Cartel Is Nothing to Fear" http://seekingalpha.com/article/101480-natural-gas-cartel-is-nothing-to-fear
Headlines burned with blue flame over the idea of a natural gas cartel this week
AND
commodity trading and the companies supporting ongoing development, it’s just a nonissue. 

Econ decline won’t change Russia’s foreign policy or cause domestic unrest

Robert Blackwill 2009; former associate dean of the Kennedy School of Government and Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Planning; RAND, "The Geopolitical Consequences of the World Economic Recession—A Caution", http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/2009/RAND_OP275.pdf
Now on to Russia. Again, five years from today. Did the global
AND
while laying the basis for more constructive long-term relations with Russia.

Economic collapse won’t cause civil war

McFaul and Stoner-Weiss 08 - *Hoover Fellow, Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University AND Associate Director for Research and Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University (Michael and Kathryn, "The Myth of the Authoritarian Model," Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb, http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20080101faessay87105/michael-mcfaul-kathryn-stoner-weiss/the-myth-of-the-authoritarian-model.html)
In fact, although the 1990s was a period of instability, economic collapse, and revolutionary change in political and economic institutions, the state performed roughly as well as it does today, when the country has been relatively "stable" and its economy is growing rapidly. Even in good economic times, autocracy has done no better than democracy at promoting public safety, health, or a secure legal and property-owning environment.

Russian growth doesn’t help the populace or provide social services

McFaul and Stoner-Weiss 08 - *Hoover Fellow, Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University AND Associate Director for Research and Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University (Michael and Kathryn, "The Myth of the Authoritarian Model," Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb, http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20080101faessay87105/michael-mcfaul-kathryn-stoner-weiss/the-myth-of-the-authoritarian-model.html)
At the same time that Russian society has become less secure and less healthy under
AND
services than Yeltsin’s government did during the deep economic decline of the 1990s.

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Read @ UNI

1: No peaceful transition – America will cling to a false unipolar reality post-transition

Calleo 9 – David P. Calleo (University Professor at The Johns Hopkins University and Dean Acheson Professor at its Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)) 2009 "Follies of Power:  America’s Unipolar Fantasy" p. 4-5
It is tempting to believe that America’s recent misadventures will discredit and suppress our hegemonic
AND
the world severely at odds with one another, the world grows dangerous. 

2: Only the Aff solves – Even if hegemonic decline is inevitable, the plan will set up a smooth transition and prevent great power war

Dolman 6 (Everett, PhD and Professor of Comparative Military Studies @ US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies and Recipient of Central Intelligence’s Outstanding Intelligence Analyst Award, " Toward a U.S. Grand Strategy in Space," March 10th, Washington Roundtable on Science and Public Policy, http://www.marshall.org/article.php?id=408, EMM)
Dolman: Well, I think that some assumptions that you made are extremely problematic
AND
where there is a power to create and enforce some sort of order.