In today's Washington Examiner, Daniel Kish points out that President Obama's announcement that he will open large amounts of land to offshore drilling will not help America achieve energy independence.
"So what does the President's plan really do? First of all, it kicks the can down the road on the issue of leasing off the coast of Virginia, from 2011 to 2012. Leasing off Virginia's coast has received bipartisan support from state and federal politicians, and was a key component of Gov. Bob McDonnell's successful election campaign. The sale was scheduled for 2011; now it's 2012."
This is an indication of how a plan that was supposed to help us with energy indepence will actually serve to slow that energy independence down. When gasoline hit $150 per barrel in the summer of 2008, George Bush and the Democrat Congress acted to open the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) for drilling. Since that time, the only thing that has prevented that drilling has been Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar. The announcement by President Obama does not change the fact that Ken Salazar is still in place. This announcement is a sleight of hand as the President intends to use the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enact the "Cap and Trade" laws that have no chance of passing in the current Congress. Look for an announcement in the coming weeks that the EPA will take action on declaring carbon dioxide a pollutant.
It is also telling that drilling leases will not be allowed in ANWR or off the southern California coast (see yesterday's Los Angeles Times).
For more information on this subject, see the press release put out by John Boehner yesterday, and the analysis put out by American Solutions. Unfortunately, the announced policy will not lead us in the direction of energy independence.
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