When Barack Obama was inaugurated, gasoline cost $1.83 a gallon. Today, prices have more than doubled. And a major reason is this Administration’s determination to lock up and raise the price of America’s abundant energy resources.
The government has conservatively estimated that America’s offshore reserves alone include approximately 86 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Many of these resources are off limits due to various moratoria and restrictions, many of which President Obama previously pledged to lift.
Now, his Administration, overreacting to the BP oil spill, has reversed that promise and brought approvals for deepwater wells in areas open to development to a virtual standstill. Not to mention threatening energy companies with new levies and cap-and-trade rules that would further hike costs and which the President has openly acknowledged are intended to price our coal industry out of business.
Meanwhile, in a deeply cynical, highly political ploy, the President recently released millions of barrels of oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserves in an artificial effort to temporarily reduce prices – letting loose for a few months a daily energy supply roughly equivalent to the daily output we could see for years to come from allowing limited and environmentally safe drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.
Besides driving up prices, the Administration’s actions are costing jobs and hurting our economy. It’s been estimated that opening up offshore areas for greater development could add two percent a year to our gross domestic product and bring in more than $2.2 trillion in revenue and royalties.
The natural gas industry has already proven what’s possible through new technologies that have dramatically increased reserves, resulting in more than a century of supplies. That’s the kind of “game-changing” advance that could reduce costs, create jobs and increase our security – if only government would get out of the way.
As a Member of Congress, I have always supported increased domestic energy exploration, including building the XL Pipeline.
