Obama’s war on energy

Rising gas prices are the elephant in the room that no one is talking about. With 87 octane gasoline now around $3 a gallon throughout the country, we can expect to start seeing increased prices for the delivery of goods and services, as UPS, FedEx, railroads and even airplanes feel the fuel cost pinch.

Unfortunately these skyrocketing prices are only the tip of the iceberg as Obama engages in an unprecedented war on American-produced energy.

For those who don’t believe that Obama is engaged in an undeclared war on domestic energy production, look at his actions in the offshore oil area. While his administration has thrown their bodies in front of the safe development of offshore oil resources in America, Obama is sending U.S. taxpayer money to Brazil to help fund the development of a massive oil field off the Brazilian coastline. 

The one-world crowd who insist that the U.S. destroy our economic base on the altar of global warming because our CO2 emissions harm the rest of the world now are funding the offshore drilling of a major oil field in South America where environmental standards are much lower. Makes sense.

The really crazy part of the equation is that at the same time that U.S. taxpayers are anteing up to pay for offshore oil development in Brazil, China is investing heavily in the Brazilian power grid. In essence, U.S. taxpayers are paying to get the oil out of the ground, and Chinese investors will be benefiting by selling the power generated by that raw material.

Back here in the U.S., the entire domestic energy production industry is under assault, as the administration prefers amber waves of windmills across the fruited plain over proven, reliable sources of energy.

Let’s look at the energy development box score. Offshore oil drilling is out, even though the Chinese and Cubans drill for oil in the same oil fields outside of our waters. Texas gas refineries are unlikely to be allowed to reopen by the Environmental Protection Agency, after they shut down in a few weeks to retool for the spring gasoline mixture. It seems they don’t meet the congressionally rejected, but Obama EPA-imposed global warming regulations. If you think $3 a gallon is a lot, just realize $4 a gallon is on its way courtesy of the global warming zealots at the EPA.

The war on coal is even more severe. In spite of 2008 campaign promises to support “clean coal” technology, the administration has aggressively sought to cut coal out of the energy mix. The EPA has sought to end mountaintop mining, expanded global warming-based regulations that make coal a much less cost-efficient alternative for electric power plants and attacked coal production under the guise of the Clean Water Act. All this, in spite of the fact that our nation is the Saudi Arabia of recoverable coal reserves, with more than 40 percent more coal available than any other country.

Nuclear power is a clean energy source, but Obama pulled the rug out from under it by joining with Harry Reid to shut down the Yucca Mountain disposal site, effectively eliminating the expansion of nuclear power as a solution.

At the same time that China is aggressively seeking oil and gas reserves, France gets a majority of its energy from nuclear and Brazil drills one of the largest oil reserves in the world using U.S. taxpayer dollars, our president, Obama, is actively working to destroy our domestic oil, coal and nuclear industries.

Apparently, in Obama’s world, you just turn up the thermostat and heat comes out without any recognition that some energy needed to be converted to make that heat. Let’s hope he is defeated before the whole country goes cold due to his extremist and dangerous energy policies.


Rick Manning is the director of communications for Americans for Limited Government. You can follow him on twitter @rmanning957.