Obama Administration Energy Obstructionism
Posted by Mark Wohlschlegel on September 2, 2011 · Leave a Comment
I have in the past written a number of articles on the current administrations “anti-energy” policy. Regardless of what this administration says, it is imperative to watch what they do because their actions are generally diametrically opposite to what they say!
Consider the recent discovery by ExxonMobil of the Julia oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. The field is believed to hold more than 700 million barrels of oil and gas equivalent. Exploiting the newly discovered field would yield billions of dollars for both ExxonMobil and royalties paid to the US government, not to mention the creation of thousands of jobs. In fact, a 1 billion barrel field could generate around $10.95 billion in government royalties—Mr. Obama—that is revenues—like taxes! Mr. Obama—this is called becoming “energy independent” and less dependent on the 60% of our oil that we now import from hostile people that want to do ill will to the United States. Get it!
Obama’s Interior Department is fighting this development. The Interior Department regulates offshore drilling and they are claiming that Exxon’s leases have expired and the company hasn’t’ met the requirements for an extension. In this industry, the re-instatement of leases has been in the past almost a rubber stamp, but for whatever reason, this is not the case for the Julia field. This discovery is one of the largest ever.
There is currently a court battle in place and the government is denying the oil company’s lease on the field, despite it being the biggest oil find ever! Furthermore, the signal to the industry that the Interior Department’s current position is extremely damaging for oil producers—typical Obama administration behavior—that is create as much uncertainty for industry so they do nothing—don’t invest, don’t create jobs—it is the same signal that they continue to send industry either through this kind of governmental restrictions or EPA rulings or nationalized healthcare. Same old same old.
Please find one of the best articles that I have recently read that appeared in today’s Wall Street Journal opinion page. The fallacy of “green energy” producing jobs has been proven over and over—it doesn’t—in fact, it costs jobs as these projects do not require nearly the labor to build as conventional sources plus the high cost of subsidy pulls money from the economy that private industry otherwise would invest in real wealth producing ventures that would in fact produce jobs. The cost of energy resulting from these green technologies also drive companies to move overseas for production due to higher electricity costs all of which diminish the number of US jobs!
Please read this article–it is very good!
By STEPHEN MOORE WSJ Opinion Section September 2, 2011
CLICK HERE for the article.
