No good deed goes unpunished.

No sooner do we issue a seldom-heard word of praise for U.S. Rep. Jon Porter for casting a good vote than Porter goes and does something truly evil.

According to The Associated Press, Porter and his cohort, U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, both voted “aye” on H.R. 4761, the so-called Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act. Written by first-term U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-La., the bill would allow offshore drilling from Florida to Alaska.

And you know what lies between Florida and Alaska, if you follow the coastline? California, our beloved homeplace.

But wait, there’s more. Porter and Gibbons didn’t just vote for this vile piece of legislation. No, also co-sponsored it, along with 138 others.

Now, we’re old enough to remember the dark day of Feb. 7, 1990, when the British Petroleum tanker American Trader spilled 400,000 gallons of Alaskan crude oil into the water off our hometown, the great city of Huntington Beach, Calif. The tanker ran over its own anchor, spilling its cargo over 60 square ocean miles, and the beaches were closed for five weeks. Not only that, but the Bolsa Chica wetlands nearby were fouled, and the government estimated 3,400 birds died, including some endangered species.

BP ultimately paid $3.8 million to settle pollution-related damage claims, and another $16 million to the state for tourism-related losses. But the money didn’t cover the damage done to pristine wetlands that activists have struggled for years to protect from encroaching development, nor the damage to some of California’s most beautiful coastline.

And now Porter, Gibbons and their Republican friends want to start drilling and not just pumping oil offshore? Those unspeakable bastards! Instead of pursuing a real energy policy, they’re adjusting a straw to suck up the last drops of Coke from the bottom of a McDonald’s cup! Oh, when will these constant indignities end?

Major props to U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley for standing up against this nonsense, as well as to California U.S. Reps. Jane Harman, Lorretta and Linda Sanchez, Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman and many others who voted “nay,” too. Shame, eternal, unending shame, be upon the head of U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who represents Huntington Beach and yet voted for this bill anyway. Remember the American Trader, Rohrabacher, you tool!

Luckily, the House isn’t the final word in this matter. Now this bill goes to the Senate, where we implore U.S. Sen. Harry Reid to strangle it in its crib. And with the high-wattage power of U.S. Sens. Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer on his side, this ill-considered proposal is sure to rest in Davy Jones locker, where, by the way, we should not drill for oil.

Right, senators?