Now that it’s no longer General Motors, but Government Motors, some changes will be made.  The extreme environmentalists that are friends of this administration want GM to now manufacture ‘green’ cars.  The problem is that the American public has not been particularly interested in ‘green’ cars.  So how do you change the market place?  Easy, raise the cost of fuel to the point that driving anything else is impractical.  So let’s look at one of the early steps in that direction.

According to the American Thinker, Representative Nick J. Rahall II, West Virginia Democrat and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee is proposing measures that will limit the production of domestic energy supplies.  This will make us more dependent on foreign oil and more subject to the price hikes that come our way because of that dependency. 

The measures proposed:

• End the “payment-in-kind” option that allows companies to pay royalties in oil and gas rather than cash. Mr. Salazar has said he would consider ending the program.
• Tighten royalty payment rules through new penalties, elimination of interest on overpayments, and other adjustments.
• Consolidate Interior Department leasing activities into a new Office of Federal Energy and Mineral Leasing, and end leasing by the Minerals Management Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
• Require the adoption of five-year plans for oil and gas leasing on federal lands similar to those developed for offshore leasing.
• Create an Oceans and Coastal Trust Fund funded by revenues from Outer Continental Shelf leases and royalties.
• Impose new environmental restrictions to curtail pollution from offshore oil drilling.
• Impose royalties for the first time on uranium mining.

It’s amazing to me that at a time when the oil producing countries of the world are not our friends, a Representative is moving to make us less energy independent.