Jobs-Drill-Jobs-Drill-Jobs-Drill

Heritage Morning Bell
Obama's Anti-Energy Policies Are Bankrupting America

Randall Stilley has witnessed firsthand the Obama administration's job-killing agenda. As the president and chief executive of Seahawk Drilling, he had to lay off 632 employees before filing for bankruptcy -- a direct result of President Barack Obama's anti-energy policies.Stilley's company owned and operated 20 shallow-water rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The lack of energy production -- a consequence of Obama's drilling moratorium and subsequent "permitorium" -- led to Seahawk’s demise. Now he's speaking out, sharing Seahawk's story in a new video from Heritage and the Institute for Energy Research. (Click to watch.)

It's an unfortunate example of how policies in Washington are harming American jobs and also squelching energy production at a time when consumers are paying $4-per-gallon for gasoline.Fortunately, not everyone in the nation's capital is content with higher prices and fewer jobs. Today the U.S. House considers the first of several bills that directly addresses energy and jobs. Lawmakers will vote today on legislation that requires the Obama administration to conduct oil and natural gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and in the waters offshore Virginia.

It's a welcome change from the anti-drilling policies first imposed by the Obama administration one year ago. On May 6, 2010, the first moratorium on Gulf drilling took effect, followed by a longer ban that lasted until October. But even after it was lifted, few deepwater permits have been issued.

The long-term implications are disastrous for America. That prompted House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) to pursue a remedy through legislation. Today's vote would ensure that companies continue energy development by requiring lease sales. Two other bills would speed up the permitting process and craft a long-term plan for offshore lease sales."What we're proposing is to lower gas prices, create American jobs, which ironically will help drive up government revenues, and ultimately, in the wake of all the turmoil we've seen in the world, create an environment in which we are energy independent or on a path to energy independence," Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) explained yesterday.

Even without the president's signature, the legislation has already had a positive impact. After it passed in committee, the Obama administration promised to hold one lease sale in 2011. (Ever since 1958, there has been at least one lease sale every year.) But while one lease sale is better than none, Hastings isn’t satisfied. He wants the Obama administration to hold four lease sales before June 2012 -- including one off the coast of Virginia.

Aside from creating new jobs and discovering new sources of energy, the lease sales contribute a substantial sum of revenue for the federal treasury. In 2008, the offshore industry paid $9.4 billion for bids on new leases. Last year, that figure dropped to $979 million in lease bids.

The drop in revenue is a reflection of the Obama administration's anti-energy policies. And lease sales are only part of the equation. According to the government's own Energy Information Administration, production in the Gulf of Mexico will drop by 190,000 barrels per day. That means less money from royalty payments on offshore rigs as well.

Faced with mounting criticism, the Obama administration has defended its policies as a safety precaution following last year's oil spill. But one year later, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement is issuing drilling permits at such a slow pace that it's hard to swallow the explanation.

At the same time, the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress are seeking new ways to penalize energy businesses. As Curtis Dubay and Nick Loris write on The Foundry, a proposal from Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) would significantly increase taxes paid by U.S. oil and gas companies competing abroad -- exactly the wrong approach with gas prices on the rise.

Meanwhile, job creators like Leslie Bertucci and Randall Stilley continue to bear the brunt of the Obama administration's misguided policies. Bertucci, who told us last month about her company's struggle to survive, has dipped into personal savings to avoid layoffs.

Stilley didn't have that option at Seahawk. And he's not optimistic about what the future holds under this administration."As an American," he told us, "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."

Unfortunately, thats exactly what this administration is doing.

Oil Jobs in Virginia On the Line

H.R. 1230—Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act

FLOOR SITUATION

On Thursday, May 5, 2011, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 1230, the Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act, under a rule. A summary of the rule, and any amendments made in order under the rule will be distributed when it becomes available.

H.R. 1230 was introduced by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) on March 29, 2011, and was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. On April 13, 2011, the House Committee on Natural Resources held a markup of H.R. 1230 and ordered the bill to be reported by a vote of 29-14.

Summary

H.R. 1230 would require the Department of the Interior (DOI) to auction offshore oil and gas leases in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico, as well as in an area off the coast of Virginia. Specifically, H.R. 1230 would require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct offshore oil and gas lease sales as follows:
1. Lease sale 216 in the Central Gulf of Mexico “as soon as practicable,” and no later than four months after enactment of the Act;
2. Lease sale 218 in the Western Gulf of Mexico “as soon as practicable,” and no later than eight months after enactment of the Act;
3. Lease sale 220 on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore of Virginia “as soon as practicable,” and no later than one year after enactment of the Act; and
4. Lease sale 222 in the Central Gulf of Mexico “as soon as practicable,” and no later than June 1, 2012.
The bill would prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from making any tract available for leasing if the President, through the Secretary of Defense, determines that drilling activity on the tract would create an unreasonable conflict with military operations.

H.R. 1230 would state that, for purposes of lease sales, the Environmental Impact Statement for the 2007-2015 five-year OCS Plan and the Multi-Sale Environmental Impact Statement satisfies the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

The bill would define “Environmental Impact Statement for the 2007-2015 five-year OCS Plan” as the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2007-2010 (April 2007), prepared by the Secretary of the Interior.

The bill would also define “Multi-State Environmental Impact Statement” as the Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed Western Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales 204, 207, 210, 215, and 218, and Proposed Central Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales 205, 206, 208, 213, 216, and 222 (September 2008), prepared by the Secretary of the Interior.

BACkground
According to House Report 112-068, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) provides a system for offshore oil and natural gas exploration, leasing, and development in federal waters. The federal government develops five-year plans to determine where and when offshore leasing and energy production will occur.
The current five-year plan (2007-2012) included a lease sale off the Virginia coast in 2011 (#220), two Gulf of Mexico lease sales (#216 and #218) in 2011, and another Gulf of Mexico lease sale (#222) to have taken place in 2012. All of these sales have been either canceled or delayed by the Obama administration, threatening to make 2011 the first year without any lease sales in the OCS since 1958. As a result, the President's budget predicts that OCS revenues from bonus bids and rents will be only $150 million, approximately 1.5 percent of the $9.85 billion in revenue generated by OCS sales in FY 2008. This loss of billions in revenue will have a real impact on the federal budget and delay America’s domestic energy production.
In 2008, the Congress and the President lifted the decades-long ban on offshore drilling. This opened an additional 500 million acres to offshore drilling--including areas off the Atlantic coast. Lifting the ban allowed the scheduled Virginia lease sale in 2011 to proceed. However, in 2010 the Secretary of the Interior delayed the Virginia lease sale until 2012 and announced that areas off the Atlantic coast would not be available for leasing and energy development in the next five-year plan (2012-2017). In 2010, the Secretary of the Interior also canceled two scheduled Gulf of Mexico lease sales from 2011 until 2012. H.R. 1230 will reverse the administration's delays by validating the existing completed Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), prepared for these lease sales under the National Environmental Policy Act, ensuring these lease sales move forward in a prompt, timely and safe manner. H.R. 1230 expands American energy production, creates jobs and generates revenue for taxpayers.
It is important to note that the EIS work for the Gulf lease sales is complete, thorough, and sufficient to safely and responsibly conduct lease sales. The EIS for the Virginia lease sale is to be completed within one year. Furthermore, each lease undergoes an environmental assessment along with additional environmental reviews of the submitted Exploration Plan. In totality, before an oil and natural gas project on a lease in federal waters takes place, there will be at least four separate environmental reviews to determine the overall environmental effects of development down to the site-specific review of impacts. The EIS for the Virginia lease sale is to be completed within one year.
Cost

According to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimates, enacting H.R. 1230 would affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. CBO estimates that enacting this legislation would reduce net direct spending by $25 million over the 2011-2016 period and about $40 million over the 2011-2021 period. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.

In addition, CBO estimates that DOI would spend about $2 million to implement the legislation (completing environmental assessments, etc.), assuming the availability of appropriated funds.

Staff Contact

For questions or further information contact Sarah Makin at 6-2302.

If Something Isn't Done Soon....

...we'll be working to drive instead of driving to work. I have come to the conclusion that the government is deliberatly attempting to break the working middle class. Eliminate our disposable income by jacking up the cost of making a living.


Block, Delay, & Tax: Hastings Outlines the White House Approach to Stop American Energy Production
by Don Seymour

With gas prices on the rise and job creators plagued with uncertainty, Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) writes in Roll Call that “House Republicans have heard the American people’s demand for increased American energy production and we’re ready to act.”

The Obama Administration, on the other hand, “has never missed an opportunity to block access to our American energy resources,” says Hastings. He says the White House approach to stopping American energy production is to “block, delay, and tax” – and the result has been higher prices and fewer jobs:

BLOCK: “When President Obama was elected,” Hastings says, “nearly all of our offshore areas were open to offshore drilling. Since then, President Obama has systematically locked-up the entire Atlantic Coast, the Pacific Coast and much of Alaska — preventing the creation of over 1.2 million jobs.” CNN released a survey showing seven in 10 Americans back expanded offshore energy production.

DELAY: “The Obama administration has delayed permits for renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar, on public lands,” and “first delayed and then significantly altered the oil shale research, demonstration and development (RD&D) lease program.” It is also “slow-walking permits for production in Alaska’s north slope.” A recent Congressional hearing showed job losses continue to mount due to this de facto moratorium on energy production.

TAX: The Administration “was out front and center pushing for a job-destroying cap-and-trade national energy tax” (which, he notes, even the president said would make energy prices “necessarily skyrocket”) and is “advocating for increasing taxes on American energy producers.” Hastings notes that “the White House has admitted this will do nothing to lower gasoline prices.” (emphsis mine)

Read the whole op-ed by Chairman Hastings here.

Click to learn more about the American Energy Initiative and here for legislation on the House floor this week that will help address rising gas prices, increase energy production, and create new jobs.

They Never Give Away Anything

PYLE: Oil drilling head fake
Obama didn't open land for energy production, he closed it

Nearly 30 years ago, Congress imposed a moratorium on the safe and environmentally sound practice of offshore oil and natural-gas exploration. In the early 1990s, President George H.W. Bush imposed a similar ban in the form of an executive order. And while this ban was in place for decades, many in Congress and the public at large had no idea that the United States was the only country in the industrialized world purposely embargoing its own energy resources.

Fast-forward to the summer of 2008: Oil was $150 a barrel, the price at the pump exceeded $4 a gallon, and the American people - of all political stripes - were genuinely outraged. In response, the Democrat-controlled Congress and President George W. Bush retired both the congressional and executive bans on offshore oil and natural-gas production.

That move effectively opened nearly the entire Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) for responsible energy production.

Now fast-forward to March 2010: President Obama announced that he, for the first time, is opening new lands in the OCS for energy exploration. You might be scratching your head at this point, because many energy-industry leaders, newspaper reporters, cable news pundits, lawmakers and politicos applauded the president's announcement as some major policy breakthrough and the White House's willingness to compromise on energy policy. However, the announcement, along with the president's sudden eagerness to trade his proposed national energy tax for increased oil and natural-gas drilling, is nothing more than political theater.

Read the rest at the Washington Times.

Always be wary when your opponent seems to be conceding anything. Its usually a good indicator they have something else planned.

Zero Cares More About China Than America

China has no environmental concerns, no EPA, no controls.

China buys into U.S. off-shore oil leases.
Mark Tapscott, Beltway Confidential
"If the administration approves the deal, it will be more vulnerable to charges that the White House is being careless with U.S. national security issues in the energy sector, and that it is putting the interests of a foreign power before those of U.S. energy consumers."

UPDATE: Bishop says Obama policy aids foreign nations, not U.S.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-UT, says the Statoil/CNOOC deal is indicative of the Obama administration's failure to protect U.S. consumers from foreign nations seeking to tap into this country's abundant energy resources:

“Unemployment will continue to exceed acceptable levels and the economy will continue to suffer until this administration reverses its anti-energy policy. China and other foreign countries are gaining access to the abundant natural resources located in the American OCS, meanwhile an energy starved U.S. continues to experience the detrimental effects of Secretary Salazar’s decisions to place special-interests before the American people.

Since taking office this administration has made great strides in helping countries gain access to American energy resources, it’s just too bad the U.S. isn’t one of them.”

Bishop is chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, which includes a number of representatives from Western states with significant energy and other natural resources.

HR 2454 UPDATE

UPDATE: HR2454 is a scam. The bill that was voted out of committee has been changed in backroom deals and 300 PAGES have been added. And that's not the end of it. More changes are expected WITHOUT public discussion. The Sunlight Foundation has the information.

Tell Congress to vote NO!
Tell Congress to read their damn bills!

Congress is scheduled to vote Friday on HR 2454, the 2 trillion dollar cap and trade legislation that will effectively reduce the standard of living for every citizen of the United States.

Call your Congressperson and tell them to VOTE NO!!!!!!

American Energy; American Security; American Jobs

American Energy. American Security. American Jobs.
You can help Free Our Energy by telling the Obama Administration to allow drilling offshore for oil and gas.
Submit a comment at FreeOurEnergy.com now!

New Poll Numbers Out

All I can say is IT'S ABOUT TIME:

"Hard is not hopeless." - Gen. David Petraeus, 2007
The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has a new survey out. It was conducted in association with the Council on Foreign Relations. Though the headline on the poll is Declining Public Support for Global Engagement, it contains sections on energy and Iraq that provide some interesting information that isn’t breaking through in the current news environment.

Section 2, Views of Iraq and Afghanistan contains poll data that, a few months ago, would have been given considerable coverage. For example:

58 percent of respondents now say the war in Iraq is going well or very well. This is a 14 percent increase since June, and the highest rating on this question in more than four years.
Positive perceptions of the war increased since June by 15 percent among women, and by 17 percent among independents.
58 percent also now say that the U.S. will definitely or probably succeed in Iraq. A year ago, 47 percent predicted failure.

Section 3, Opinions About Energy Policy, also has interesting data. For example:

A solid majority (55 percent) now support drilling in ANWR. That’s an increase of 13 percent—just since February—including 52 percent of independents. As the report puts it, “Support for ANWR drilling has increased across demographic groups.”
Respondents overwhelming support an “all of the above” approach to energy independence, with more than two thirds of respondents supporting everything from drilling in coastal waters to greater fuel efficiency, development of renewable fuels and increased fuel efficiency.
Support for offshore exploration “garners the same level of support in coastal states as it does elsewhere.”

Respondents were evenly split on the nation’s overall energy priorities:
“45% say that expanding exploration, mining, and drilling, and the construction of new power plants should be the more important priority, while 47% say the priority should be on more energy conservation and regulation on energy use and prices.”
That’s a sharp change from February, when 35 percent favored increased exploration, etc., and 55 percent conservation and regulation as the priority.

Just A Reminder As You Begin A New Week

The only thing wrong with this economy is the price of gasoline.

Congress can fix it.

Tell them to fix it.

Tell them to fix it NOW!!

Drill Here, Drill Now

This is what we want:

A Gusher of Hypocrisy

From the NRCC Newsletter:

PELOSI AND THE DEMOCRATS PROMOTE SHAM ENERGY PROPOSAL

"While Nancy Pelosi is off on her cross-country tour trying to get her book moved off the New York Times' worst-seller list, voters are wondering why she and her fellow Democrats can't be bothered to address the issue of out of control fuel costs," said Ken Spain, a spokesman for the NRCC. (www.PolitickerCA.com)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Majority are well into the third week of their paid five week vacation right now. And no, they aren't showing any signs of getting back to work before September to vote on an energy package that would increase the supply of American oil.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that kids are about to head back to school where they'll be paying more for lunch, studying from old textbooks and walking further to the bus stop - assuming their bus schedule hasn't been cancelled altogether - thanks to higher fuel prices.

This past Sunday, Pelosi proposed a sham of an energy proposal during her weekly radio address. And it was nothing short of an insult to the American people. Madam Speaker, who hails from California, refuses to allow Congress to vote on - or even debate - legislation that would open the Golden State to offshore drilling.But listen to this - even George Skelton, a left-of-center columnist for the Los Angeles Times, advocates opening up California to more drilling.

He writes:"California is the nation's biggest consumer of gasoline - 45 million gallons a day, plus 10 million gallons of diesel. That makes us the third-biggest petroleum-consuming entity in the world, behind on the United States and China. ... So there's a gusher of hypocrisy here: The state that is the biggest consumer of gasoline in the nation - but produces less than 40% of what it uses - is opposed to drilling for more oil off its shores. We're slackers not pulling our weight."

The long and short of it is that our nation is being held hostage by one woman from San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi, who opposes drilling for American oil off the shores of California.

REPUBLICANS WINNING THE DEBATE ON ENERGY

The good news is that Republicans are winning the debate on energy. A recent Rasmussen Poll finds that 61% of Americans want Congress to get back to work immediately and lift the ban on offshore drilling. In terms of how they'll vote for Congress this year, 77% say offshore oil drilling is important.
And 67% of Americans recognize Republicans - not Democrats - are pushing the drilling issue.

OUR CANDIDATES' ADS

Our candidates across the country are doing a great job of getting out the message that we must increase the supply of American energy. This week, we're highlighting a fantastic new television ad by John Gard, who's running against Democrat incumbent Steve Kagen in Wisconsin-08.Republicans are on the right side of the energy debate. Meanwhile, a lot of vulnerable Democrats risk getting swept away by Speaker Pelosi's gusher of hypocrisy.

Take The Poll Tell 'Em What You Think

Senator Jim Inhofe has a one question poll he'd like you to respond to.

The link is here.

It's The Supply, Stupid

Congress Can Lower Gasoline Prices By:

• Cutting gas taxes and banning earmarks that drive up costs
• Supporting Congressman Ryan's "Roadmap for America's Future" HR 6110 is a good first step.
• Increase American oil production by allowing drilling in ANWR and increasing exploration in the OCS.
• Authorizing the construction of new refineries and expansion of existing ones.
• Ending the moratorium on oil shale production in he US

America Deserves a Sound and Responsible Energy Policy

• The best way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and keep our money here, is to utilize the resources we currently have at our disposal while we wait on a viable market source of alternative energy.
• The free market, if allowed to work, will encourage the necessary innovation that will yield clean and cheap sources of energy.
• The United States is the most environmentally responsible and successful nation in the known universe, but current climate regulations proposed by the enviro-nazi wacko lobby would put a stop to this prosperity and ultimately do more harm than than good to the cause of energy independence and financial (and national) security.

First and foremost, the United States must increase it's domestic supply of oil and natural gas. Nearly 85% of the OCS is off-limits for drilling and exploration because of a dhimmicrat imposed Congressional mandate. Similarly, the vast supplies of oil contained in the northernmost portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) are impounded. These are two areas that are proven to contain vast reserves of oil and natural gas, that the government, (i.e. dhimmicrat and environmental lobbyists), has chosen to allow to sit idle. By opening these reserves for exploration and drilling, Congress could decrease the cost of fuel. According to recent pols, nearly three-fourths of Americans support drilling in these areas.

Seond, Congress must authorize the construction and expansion of oil refineries in the United States. There has not been a new refinery built in this nation for over 30 years. In 2007, the U.S. consumed nearly 21 million barrels of oil PER DAY, but produced only 5 million. By lifting burdensome regulations, we can dramatically increase the amount of oil produced in this country.

Finally, Congress should simply allow the free-market to work to meet the energy needs of the nation. Three things that Congress can do right now that would spur on the free market are cutting taxes, banning earmarks, and eliminating the wasteful spending that is rampant in Washington DC. If the free market is allowed to work with minimal intervention, then not only will we see a decrease in fuel prices because of increased domestic production, but we will also witness the emergence of viable alternative sources of energy.

The Congressional ban on offshore drilling expires on 30 September 2008. The best thing Congress can do is what has continually done, NOTHING. Let the ban expire. Free the market to run on it's own.

Let the American people do what they have always done, overcome adversity and show the world we are the greatest country in the known universe.

Cross posted at The Talon and DCProtestWarrior

Congress Teams Up With OPEC to Defeat Middle Class America

from Townhall.com

Walter Williams
Despite Congress' periodic hauling of weak-kneed oil executives before their committees to charge them with collusion and price-gouging, subsequent federal investigations turn up no evidence to support the charges. Right now oil company executives are getting a bit of a respite as Congress has turned its attention to crude oil speculators, blaming them for high oil prices and calling for tighter control over commodity futures trading.
Congressional attacks on speculation do not alter the oil market's fundamental demand and supply conditions. What would lower the long-term price of oil is for Congress to permit exploration for the estimated billions upon billions of barrels of oil domestically available, not to mention the estimated trillion-plus barrels of shale oil in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. Some politicians pooh-pooh calls for drilling, saying it would take five or 10 years to recover the oil. I guarantee you we would begin to see a reduction in today's prices even if it took five to 10 years for us to get the first barrel. Put yourself in the place of an OPEC member knowing there would be a greater supply of U.S. oil five or 10 years, hence maybe driving oil prices lower to say $40 a barrel. What will you want to do now while oil is $130 a barrel? You would want to sell as much oil now and OPEC's collective efforts to do so would put downward pressures on current oil prices. Right now the U.S. Congress is OPEC's staunchest ally.

McCain Wakes Up From Coma

Another post on the same topic is at The Talon

from Family Security Matters

On Domestic Oil Drilling, Republican Leadership Is Finally Emerging
A recent Gallup poll revealed that 57% of Americans want to open previously untouched territories to oil drilling. A Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll had the number of Americans in favor at 59%. I would suspect that as gasoline prices rise, the percentage of Americans in favor of new drilling will too.
There is an estimated 17.8 billion barrels of oil located off American shores that is currently off limits to oil companies. According to federal data, that's about the same as 10 years worth of current U.S. oil production, and approximately 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. And, these figures don't take into account the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or the 800 billion barrels of oil that could be had from shale in the Midwest.
Finally, Sen. John McCain apparently has come out of his coma and realizes that the best way for America to become energy independent is to increase domestic drilling.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a potential vice-presidential selectee, has also gotten religion and now wants to lift a federal ban on offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. President Bush has long called for increased domestic drilling, but until recently, that clarion song has fallen on deaf ears. Now the public has stood up and paid attention. It seems that $4-a-gallon gasoline will do that. Americans are beginning to understand that importing foreign oil and not increasing domestic drilling just doesn't make sense.
So what do Sen. Barack Obama and his liberal friends propose to reduce America's dependency on foreign oil? A "windfall profits tax" on oil companies, of course. This is the same failed strategy used by Jimmy Carter. If their most recent tax proposal had taken root, a gallon of gasoline would have increased as much as 50 cents after the oil companies passed the tax on to consumers.
The do-nothing Democrats maintain that increased drilling will only lower gasoline prices a few cents. So, is that a bad thing?
Democrats say that drilling will blemish beaches with oil spills. Oh? Because of new technologies, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita only caused off-shore oil rigs to spill 13,000 barrels of oil in the water; a mere drop in the bucket.
Democrats think nuclear power plants are unsafe, but not one death can be contributed to them in this country. Newer technologies have made them even safer than before, and plutonium rods can now be recycled. Sen. Obama generally supports nuclear power, but has offered no specifics, incentives or leadership in this regard.
Sen. Obama uttered a Freudian slip when he said that gasoline prices are rising too fast. That means he's for higher prices, just not too fast. He and other liberal senators want to reduce gasoline consumption by way of rising prices, thus forcing conservation. The fact that this strategy will cripple the economy and lower American's standard of living is never discussed.
Sen. McCain summed up the consequences of America's dependence on foreign oil when he said, "...our petrodollars are underwriting tyranny, anti-Semitism, the brutal repression of women in the Middle East, and dictators and criminal syndicates in our own hemisphere." He also warned that a successful terrorist attack on a Middle East oil installation could plunge the country into an "economic crisis of monumental proportions." Is this what the Democrats are waiting for?
Sen. McCain forgot to mention the huge trade deficit that the importation of oil creates, and that the profits enjoyed by Middle Eastern countries are being used to buy American banks and landmarks like the Chrysler Building.
I believe that there would be an immediate drop in worldwide oil prices once speculators realized that America was finally serious about increasing domestic drilling and becoming energy dependent. The theory of supply and demand would reverberate throughout the world oil markets. Good paying American jobs would be created, more income taxes would be collected, and there would be many more billions of dollars that could be earned and invested in this country instead of the homelands of our enemies.
Gasoline prices could emerge as the campaign issue for this upcoming election. Over the next four months it will be clear to the electorate that the Democratic energy policy, if you can call it that, is to do nothing. If Republican leadership prevails, voters may sweep away those Democrats who stand in the way of increased domestic drilling and energy independence. Only time will tell.
If nothing else, increased domestic drilling buys time for, not postpones, the development of alternative forms of energy. The sooner America is weaned off oil completely, the better we will all be.

America FIRST!!!!!!

Companion piece on the Senate Judicary Hearings with oil execs is on my vox site.

From GOPUSA:

According to a new Rasmussen poll, 48 percent of Americans say lower gas prices are the key to an economic recovery, and 60 percent are in favor of offshore drilling.

Here's another one. Rasmussen asked voters about the now-infamous Harry Reid YouTube video, where the senator says coal and oil are making us sick, and that fossil-fueled global warming is "ruining our country" and "ruining our world." Well, Rasmussen shows that 52 percent of voters reject Reid on coal; 50 percent disagree with him on oil; and 51 percent reject his idea that we need to stop using fossil fuels.

Note from poster: In 2007 the SCOTUS decided that CO2 is a pollutant. WTF??

And all this is McCain's opportunity. He needs to hammer away on an America First energy policy that will completely deregulate and decontrol this nation's great energy industry. He needs to mothball his errant statements on "obscene oil profits." Instead, he needs to support and unleash all of our energy companies and entrepreneurs, allowing them to develop whatever it takes on oil, gas-to-liquid, clean coal, nuclear, offshore, onshore, oil shale, wind, solar and biofuel.

Politically, Sen. McCain must also understand how Hillary Clinton clobbered Barack Obama in the big-state primaries: blue-collar workers. They can be the key to victory for McCain. Guess who works in the energy business? Blue collar Reagan Democrats. They work on the rigs. They work in the fields. They drive the trucks. And they're paid high wages -- substantially above the average hourly wage.

Or McCain can sell it this way: American workers are worried about jobs going offshore to India, China, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Well, a drill, drill, drill America First energy plan would create millions of new domestic American jobs.

Worried about funding terrorist rogue states? Drill, drill, drill. A complete portfolio of oil energy sources in America -- that's the answer.

And while he's at it, McCain should stop blaming "reckless traders." As soon as you say, "End the drilling moratoriums," it is precisely those traders who will start selling oil contracts -- long before the first offshore oil barrels are delivered to market. If they see presidential leadership on oil and shale drilling, they will rapidly turn a bull market into a bear market.

McCain has to make this case daily. He must contrast his America First energy plan with Obama's declinist American vision. He must argue America First for fuel, power, jobs, wages and national security. He must enlist the Reagan Democrats who may be out of work and are surely angry at $4 gas at the pump and $140 a barrel oil in the world market.

Take a page from Ronald Reagan, Mr. McCain. Be optimistic about our future. Be clear, straightforward and consistent. We can grow this economy and remain No. 1. This is how to do it.