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Townhall...
Obama’s Scandalous
War Against Domestic Oil
by David Limbaugh
Do you remember the terrible things the left was saying about President
George W. Bush when gas prices soared under his watch? Yet President
Obama, whose policies and actions are actually contributing to
rocketing gas prices today, gets the usual mainstream media pass.
Is it that the liberal media exempt Obama from accountability because
they’re on his team in general? Is it because they think he’s blameless
in the equation even though they sprang to the unfounded conclusion
that Bush was culpable? Or could it be that they aren’t critical
because they share his bias against conventional energy and believe the
pain caused by his policies is necessary to move us toward alternative
energy sources?
During Bush’s term, gas prices went down 9 percent, adjusted for
inflation. Yet, preposterously, he was excoriated for allegedly
colluding with “big oil” to drive up prices. When prices spiked later
in his term, he took proactive steps to increase our supply and reduce
prices, and they worked. But Obama has taken action to impede
conventional energy sources and shove us into alternative ones. Even
so, liberals ignore any possible causal links.
Obama told us he would bankrupt the coal industry. He’s pushing
high-speed rail down our throats despite the lack of public demand for
it and our inability to finance it. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
said the administration intended to coerce us out of our cars. Energy
Secretary Steven Chu said, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost
the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”
In view of exploding gas prices, why aren’t these statements seen as
scandalous? Where are the calls for investigations?
Obama demeans “big oil,” pushes alternative energy every time he gets a
chance and does everything in his power to suppress domestic oil
production, then looks us in the face and tells us he’s increasing
domestic production -- kind of like how he says his budget won’t add a
penny to the national debt. The audacity is of Hollywood magnitude, and
so is the lack of scrutiny that enables it.
Behind the smoke and mirrors of his rhetoric, it’s hard not to conclude
that Obama’s on a mission to suppress or shut down the existing oil
infrastructure in the United States in pursuit of his stated
alternative priorities.
The Heritage Foundation’s Rory Cooper reports that, as of February
2011, at least 103 permits were awaiting review by the Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. And since February, the
administration has issued on average only 1.3 permits a month, a 78
percent reduction in the monthly average according to the latest Gulf
Permit Index.
Obama even reversed an earlier decision to open access to coastal
waters for exploration, placing a seven-year ban on drilling in the
Atlantic and Pacific Coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Oil
production in the Gulf is expected to drop by 220 thousand barrels per
day in 2011, which is going to cost the U.S. some $1.35 billion in
revenues in 2011.
Not only are we losing oil production and revenues, the
administration’s actions are destroying jobs in the oil industry and
elsewhere. Many companies are going out of business. The Heritage
Foundation reports that Seahawk Drilling, of Houston, laid off 632
employees before recently filing for bankruptcy as a direct result of
Obama’s moratorium and subsequent “permitorium.” Seahawk owned and
operated 20 shallow-water rigs in the Gulf. Randall Stilley, president
and CEO of Seahawk, said, “As an American, you never want to look at
your own government and say they’re hurting you personally, they’re
hurting your business and they’re doing it in a way that’s
irresponsible. I’m not very proud of our government right now and the
way they handled this.”
Cooper explains that these crippling policies are having a negative
rippling effect throughout the economy. Many vendors, suppliers,
restaurants and retailers are losing revenues or going out of business.
More than 30 deepwater rigs, which each employ around 200 people, have
moved from the Gulf to other markets. While the industry is on “life
support,” Obama is at war with it, brazenly spending billions to
support foreign oil and jobs in Brazil.
Making matters worse, the administration and congressional Democrats
are considering legislation that would further damage energy businesses
by significantly increasing taxes on domestic oil and gas concerns. And
just in the past few days, we’ve been reading that the administration
is floating a plan to tax cars by the mile.
Can you imagine the insanity and insensitivity of raising taxes on this
ailing industry and its consumers (drivers) at a time when both need
all the relief they can get?
Obama is no less determined to cram his preferred energy alternatives
down Americans’ throats than he was to force feed us socialized
medicine. Again, where is the outrage?
Read it at Townhall
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