Question: how do you turn a tea party republican into a bleeding heart liberal environmentalist?  Answer: attempt to drill for oil in Mandeville.  It’s funny.  I think you would be hard pressed to find many folks on the Northshore that are anti-drilling.  Quite the opposite.  I bet when Sarah “clueless” Palin was saying “drill baby drill”, the folks in St Tammany were behind her 110%.  But now that the potential drilling is taking place in Mandeville, “drill baby drill” might not be the battle cry, especially when the controversial method used to drill would be fracking.  Fracking essentially breaks up oil deposits trapped in shale and brings them to the surface.  The new drilling method is one of the main reasons America could be oil independent in just 10 short years.  The new drilling method also has lead to contamination to some water supplies.  In some parts of the country water from the tap has so much gas in it that it can be ignited, literally water on fire coming out of the kitchen sink.  Our Northshore has some of the finest drinking water you’ll find anywhere.  Many in the metro area drink this bottled water.  But the possibility exists that it all could be gone if our Northshore neighbors allow the fracking to take place.  Like most in Louisiana, I’m pro-drilling and I’m also for clean water.  Mandeville folks have a tough decision to make.