Prez supports oil drilling? Not!

Just in time for April Fools’ Day, the press reported “Obama clears way for oil drilling off US coasts”, telling us about the President’s “‘tough decision’ to expand offshore drilling.”

While we’ve heard the President talk about all kinds of energy options including nuclear and fossil fuel-based sources, we know this administrations in clearly heavily invested in closing the deal on a “cap and trade” energy policy (never mind it could cripple the US economy while enriching a handful).

So, quite frankly, I looked for confirmation that our President had “clear[ed] the way for oil drilling off US coasts”.  

Not!

It’s a hollow promise. The President’s plan closes most of the coasts to oil drilling — just two years after they were opened when a moratorium on coastal drilling expired in 2008.  Take a look at these maps.

To make it worse, the Secretary of the Interior “quietly” told reporters in March that no new oil and gas leases will be approved under the Obama administration — even though 2/3 of the public supports such jobs!

Meanwhile, a Colorado Congressman has introduced HR 4866 to “RESTART” mining of our “rare earth” reserves. Rare earth mineral production is vital for the renewable energy industry but the US has locked up most of our production. Who produces the bulk of the world’s rare earths? China, of course. So, current energy policies are exchanging dependence on foreign oil for dependence on foreign minerals.

While I don’t like the look of oil wells, especially off the coast, I do see the connection between the gas pump and oil derricks. And new technology allows up to drill at a slant and get, from one platform, what used to take many. All good.

And I am not alone. A recent Gallup poll revealed that Americans are more likely to say the U.S. should prioritize development of energy supplies than to say it should prioritize protecting the environment, the first time more have favored energy production over environmental protection in this question’s 10-year history.

It appears that Americans recognize that the oil business successfully and cleanly drills all over the world — just not here in the States since we’ve closed most areas for energy production. It’s a bit hypocritical of us and we pay the price, dearly, in funding military actions all over the world to defend our “US interests”.

Elected representatives in Utah understand this conflict and so Utah is suing to get some of its land back from the federal government which now “owns” — but does not use — almost 70% of Utah (which has HUGE reserves of clean coal). And what the fed doesn’t own, it controls via the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the country’s first animal rights (no, not conservation) law in the land.

So that headline, that the President has now “clear[ed] the way” for oil production, is sooo misleading.

The article states that President “Obama made no secret of the fact that one factor in his decision was securing Republican support for a sweeping climate change bill that has languished in Congress.”

Ah, ha! We’re back where we started. This is just a drop of oil to grease the skids for the “cap and trade” fiasco.

The “climate change” bill is a disaster for taxpayers, a nonissue trumped up to transfer billions from our pockets to a few. Grand theft via political policy.

Why can’t we just free our citizens to do the job of delivering energy based on free market  principles? Why so much horse trading to enact nonsensical policies? And why so much control from DC which technically, per the Constitution, was supposed to keep their mitts off the State’s lands and water anyway?

If Utah wins its case, in the future we won’t be reading about any president talking about “his” decision to allow or not allow drilling. And more drilling will be done on land, which is safer and simpler than drilling at sea.

And maybe that would be a good thing.

In the meantime, Happy April Fools Day to all us fools out there!

NOTE: What a difference a few short weeks make. This was written shortly before the BP oil disaster in the Gulf, 40 miles off the coastline, outside state jurisdiction (within 12 miles) but still within the 200 mile exclusive economic zone of the USA. So the US federal government had oversight on this deepwater well, run by a British company contracting to another company, Transocean, a Swiss company which owns half of the 50 deepwater rigs in the world. Ironically,  “we’re never out of our depth,” is Transocean’s motto.