Oil and Politics


The Democrat Party, led by Barack Obama, is obstructing the flow of oil

Political pressure is one of the major influences on the price of oil.  Democrats in Congress need to have an endless series of crises to solve.  The United States has plenty of oil, but much of it has been placed off-limits by the Democrats in Congress and (years ago) in the White House.  To allow more drilling here at home would have the effect of lowering gas prices at the pump.  That would make the (Republican) President look like a problem solver, and the Democrats can't afford to have that happen.

Democrats and environmentalists are co-dependent.  Democrats pretend that only they care about environmental issues, and environmentalists help to maintain public pressure by creating an endless series of environmental crises for the government to solve.  Unfortunately, the federal government almost never solves any problem.  Problems keep bureaucrats employed, so real solutions are out of the question.  For example, the Environmental Protection Agency was established by President Nixon at a time when air and water quality in this country was really poor in the big cities.  Now that those problems have been all but eliminated (airborne lead has been reduced by over 99 percent), the EPA is still around, looking for more and more minute problems to solve.  Other agencies are the same way, and now there are hundreds of busy-work bureaucrats.

New subsection:  The use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for political gain.

Related pages:
Lies about energy production.
The Keystone XL Pipeline.




Energy is not Joe Biden's strong suit.  [Joe] Biden thought he would be able to stick it to Trump's energy decision to drill, drill, drill.  Curtailing drilling for oil not only caused the loss of good-paying jobs, crippling towns where the workers lived, and became the genesis of our inflation, but also returned America to being energy-dependent on our adversaries.  Apparently, what Biden knows about the oil business could be put in a thimble.  He just does not have a "slant" on "dirty" energy technology.  He even stopped completion of the Keystone Pipeline, choking delivery of tar sand oil from Canada.  Meanwhile, oil industry folks decided to improve their ability to get more oil from their current wells, so America is now back to producing more oil than we can drink.  While all this was occurring, Biden drew upon stored oil to keep the price of gasoline from going to $10.00/gallon, and now he is replacing these strategic reserves, stored in case of war, at higher prices.

Shell Pulls Tankers from Red Sea Passage amid Houthi Rocket Attacks.  The oil company Shell plans to suspend tanker shipments through the Red Sea as repeated Houthi attacks on cargo ships have destabilized the vital transit route.  The Iranian-backed Houthi militia began striking shipping containers following the Hamas invasion of Israel in early October as a means of putting pressure on the international coalition supporting the Jewish State in its ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.  Shell's move, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, brings the gas giant in line with other major suppliers, including British Petroleum (BP) and Qatar Energy, which both recently opted to avoid the region altogether.  About 12 percent of the world's oil, crude and refined, travels through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal in Egypt.

There's Only So Much Joe Biden Can Do To Kill Oil And Gas.  One of the frequent boasts then-candidate Joe Biden made during his 2020 run for the presidency was that his administration would mount a frontal assault on the domestic oil and gas business, outlaw hydraulic fracturing and put policies in place that would assure the industry was out of business within a decade.  The President and his energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, made a habit of repeating that gone-within-a-decade promise throughout 2021 and 2022 as they aggressively worked to cement their Green New Deal agenda into place.  Funny thing, though:  A number of months have passed since we heard either Biden or Granholm repeat that pledge.  In fact, I was unable to find a single instance of either making the statement in 2023 at all.  Granholm had a prime opportunity to do that when she participated in a December 12 meeting of the National Petroleum Council, a DOE advisory committee made up largely of oil executives that serves at her pleasure.  But rather than go there one more time, the Secretary talked about her belief that the industry has a "trust gap" with the public related to climate issues, and urged the executives to do more to rein in their emissions.

Biden's 'America Last' Policy at Work.  A National Review article in November 2021 reported that, "Biden's approach to energy represents in microcosm his approach to the presidency in general."  There is absolutely nothing about Biden's contradictory approach to energy that makes any sense.  He wants the United States to reduce the production of fossil fuels, reduce the number of new pipelines in America, limit oil and gas drilling on federal land, and abandon the Trump administration's mission to maximize fossil fuels production.  He wants other countries, such as Venezuela, to produce more fossil fuels for American use.  He even asked the Saudis to increase production, but got snubbed.  He maintains that there actually isn't a supply issue at all, but that oil companies all got together to gouge customers, an issue that the FTC must immediately investigate.  He opposed new fracking, promised to 'make sure it's eliminated.'  He even appropriated Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's "Green New Deal."  Why did/does Biden behave in this manner?  Because he was/is trying to please the whacko far-left base of his party which is opposed to oil production because it's not 'green.'  For Biden, pleasing environmentalists means putting America Last.

Alarm on Energy.  Fifty years ago, in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, the Arab members of OPEC initiated an oil embargo against the United States.  The boycott was retribution for America's support of Israel during its brief war against Egypt and Syria.  What was true in 1973 remains true in the wake of Hamas's brutal terror attack on Israel on October 7: America's national strength depends on the availability of cheap, abundant, reliable energy.  Our national security, and that of our allies, depends on energy security.  Energy is the economy.  We forget these realities at our extreme peril.  Fortunately, some things that were true a half-century ago are no longer so.  Over the past decade or so, the geopolitics of energy have shifted dramatically in favor of the U.S., due mainly to the shale revolution.  Instead of relying on oil imports, the U.S. has become a huge exporter of both oil and natural gas.

Federal Judge Delivers Blow To Biden Admin's Efforts To Restrict Offshore Oil And Gas Drilling.  A federal judge on Thursday issued a setback to the Biden administration's efforts to crack down on oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.  U.S. District Judge James Cain of the Western District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction against the Department of the Interior's (DOI) move to reduce the area of an offshore oil lease in the Gulf by about 6 million acres and essentially impose restrictive protections for the Rice's whale in the region.  The injunction asserts that DOI and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) implemented the challenged actions in a way that was procedurally invalid, and that DOI's decision to do so was both arbitrary and capricious.

Biden admin unleashes 50-year mining, oil drilling ban across thousands of acres in New Mexico.  The Biden administration proposed to block of thousands of acres from future oil drilling or mining in northern New Mexico in an effort to protect Native American lands.  According to the Department of the Interior (DOI), the proposal would ban new mining claims and oil and gas development across more than 4,200 acres in Sandoval County, New Mexico, located north of Albuquerque.  If finalized and implemented, the action would remain in place for up to 50 years.  "Today we're responding to call from Tribes, elected leaders, and community members who want to see these public lands protected," Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.  "We look forward to hearing more from the public to inform decisions about how activities, like gravel mining, may impact these lands, including the important cultural and natural resources."

Oil spikes above $91 on supply concerns.  The price of oil continues to rise as Wall Street traders eye a potential supply deficit after Saudi Arabia and Russia extended supply cuts.  Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices have climbed for three straight weeks to reach their highest peak since November and are now targeting their biggest quarterly jumps since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the first quarter of 2022.  That year, oil prices shot above $100 for the first time since 2014 amid the conflict as demand recovered from COVID-19 lockdowns.  Meanwhile, the global benchmark Brent Crude ended 2022 near $86 a barrel on fears of global recession.

What the Left Did to Our Country.  Biden warred on fossil fuels, cancelling federal leases and pipelines, jawboning lending agencies to defund fracking, demonizing state-of-the-art, clean-burning cars, and putting vast areas of oil- and gas-rich federals lands off-limits to drilling.  When gas prices predictably doubled under Biden and the 2022 midterms approached, he tried temporarily to lease out a few new fields, to drain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and to beg the Saudis, and our enemies, the Iranians, the Venezuelans, and the Russians, to pump more oil and gas that Biden himself would not.  All this was a pathetic ruse to temporarily lower gas prices before the mid-term elections.

A tanker believed to hold sanctioned Iran oil starts offloading near Texas despite Tehran's threats.  An oil tanker long suspected of carrying sanctioned Iranian crude oil offloaded its cargo near Texas on Sunday, tracking data showed, even as Tehran has threatened to target shipping in the Persian Gulf over it.  Ship-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Marshall Islands-flagged Suez Rajan began the hours-long ship-to-ship transfer of its oil to another tanker, the MR Euphrates, near Galveston, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) southeast of Houston.

What? Biden Sold America's Oil Reserve to China.  On and after January 20, 2021, [Joe] Biden has issued punitive, increasingly restrictive executive orders, regulations, and expensive legislation — passed by single-party government — intended to shut down big parts of the US fossil fuel industry.  Not satisfied to shut down supply, the federal government has — with and without legislation — methodically perverted the demand side of the curve, too.  After making gas and heating oil prohibitively expensive, they penalized makers of automobiles and countless gas-powered household appliances.  Specifically, they have punished makers of gas powered engines, cars, trucks, boats, lawnmowers, hammered the energy, construction, transportation, and farm sectors, then turned to appliances, aiming to outlaw everything from gas and wood stoves to refrigerators and water heaters.  The Democrat idea, fueled by activists, is to mandate everything by fiat.  The Soviets dealt this way, Chinese still do.  Biden's "make it all electric" mandate sees wind turbines and solar panels covering the Earth, powering the grid, now 80 percent fossil and nuclear.  By magic, wind and sun will run it all.

The gas is high.  It's hot here and some countries are cutting back on production.  The heat is the heat and I've lived plenty of it in Texas.  In fact, I remember when our second son was baptized back in 1988 that it was 108 around here.  That holy water must have felt great on that baby's head.  I remember 1980 when we had a whole 30 days of 100-plus temperatures.  What I don't remember was gasoline going up.  So what's the other reason?  Countries cutting back production.  Of course, why is that even an issue when Texas and Alaska could take care of our energy needs?  Why are we suddenly depending on countries for one drop of oil?  The answer is the Biden administration listening to the climate-change fanatics who want to attack the problem by having American families paying more for energy.

Biden's balk at energy independence.  The ups and downs of energy prices have been mostly up over the last 2½ years.  And that's no accident.  Americans are paying dearly for the fuel that drives the modern world, thanks to President Biden's meddling in domestic oil production.  The characteristic sawtooth pattern of oil prices on the global market has taken a steeper upward jag lately, climbing more than $10 a barrel since Saudi-led OPEC curtailed production by 1 million barrels a day this month.  Subsequently, U.S. drivers have been greeted by gasoline prices that, on average nationally, have risen 6 cents a gallon in a month.  On the local level, overnight spikes of 25 cents are not unusual.

Alaska's Budget Problems Are A Cautionary Tale For Texas.  What would happen to Texas if it's the Biden administration's ongoing efforts to restrict its oil and gas industry were to succeed?  What would happen to the state's budget and economy if, say, the proposed endangered species listing of the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard or Environmental Protection Agency's threat to hold the entire Permian Basin in violation of ozone standards had the impact of cutting production of oil and gas in half?  What has been happening in Alaska in recent years could provide a real-world example.  Biden's anti-energy policies have played a big role in leaving that state with a big budget hole, and some proposals to address the problem could place the state on a path to a California-like high-tax, slow-growth economy.

We should all give Biden great credit for what he has achieved in office.  We should be giving Biden credit for energy and spending policies that caused inflation to skyrocket from under 2%, despite COVID to over 9% or 4% in May.  Oil is still around $70 per barrel, or up around 75% from when Biden was elected.  I am sure people on fixed income, the poor, and middle class are extremely happy that food and energy prices have leveled off at such a high level.  When Biden was running for office, he repeatedly said he was going to destroy the oil and coal industry:  "I would transition away from the oil industry, yes," Biden said.  As soon as Biden took office, he dictatorially halted oil and gas leases on US land and water.  Biden also dictatorially cancelled the permit for the Keystone pipeline the day he took office. [...] As a result of Biden's anti-domestic oil policies, the price of oil skyrocketed from around $40 per barrel the day Biden was elected to $84 per barrel in October 2021, less than a year later, which was long before Russia attacked Ukraine.  When the price of oil inflates by over 110% in one year, it causes overall inflation to also go up rapidly, because energy prices affect everything.  It is a simple concept.  Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran benefit greatly when the U.S decides it no longer wants to be a major oil market competitor.

Native Americans block Interior Sec.  Haaland from entering event celebrating oil ban.  Biden administration officials were forced to temporarily postpone and relocate a weekend event to celebrate a ban on New Mexico fossil fuel development, after Native Americans blocked an access road and told officials to "go home" and stop "trespassing."  Navajo Nation group shut down the entrance of Chaco Culture National Historical Park on Sunday to prevent Interior Secretary Deb Haaland from leading the event celebrating a newly-enacted, 20-year ban on oil leasing, covering hundreds of square miles of New Mexico land.  The event was moved to a nearby location where Haaland said what had transpired was "less than ideal."  The ban — implemented June 2 — ends natural gas leasing within 10 miles of Chaco Canyon's World Heritage site, a move landowners were adamantly against, arguing that doing so negatively impacts them and surrounding low-income communities who benefit from the leasing.

Biden admin issues 20-year oil drilling ban near Indigenous site, ignoring pleas from Native Americans.  The Biden administration is moving forward with a 20-year ban on new oil and gas leasing near an Indigenous cultural site in New Mexico despite stark opposition from Native Americans in the region.  Interior Secretary Deb Haaland finalized the action Friday which bans fossil fuel and mineral leasing within a 10-mile buffer zone around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico.  The ban ultimately amounts to a withdrawal of approximately 336,404 acres of public lands from mineral leasing near the site some Native Americans consider sacred.  "Today marks an important step in fulfilling President Biden's commitments to Indian Country by protecting Chaco Canyon, a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors have called this place home since time immemorial," Haaland said in a statement.

'I Can Tell You Who It Wasn't': Trump Hints That US Blew Up Nord Stream Pipeline.  Former President Donald Trump appeared to hint that the United States was responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline during an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson.  "I don't want to get our country in trouble so I won't answer it, but I can tell you who it wasn't, it wasn't Russia," Trump told Carlson, a co-founder of the Daily Caller News Foundation, in an exchange that aired Wednesday [4/12/2023].  "How about when they blamed Russia — they said Russia blew up their own pipeline.  You got a kick out of that one too.  It wasn't Russia."

UN: Why would we investigate the Nord Stream blasts?  The mystery of the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines continues to generate controversy months after the fact.  Last week the Russians asked the United Nations Security Council to investigate the blasts as an act of war.  Yesterday the council held a vote and declined to conduct such an investigation.  The only members voting in favor of the resolution were China, Brazil, and, of course, Russia.  Everyone else either abstained or voted no.  Some of the members voting against the resolution actually offered a fairly good reason.  There is already an investigation underway and it would be premature to jump into the middle of it before we know the results.  But this definitely handed some additional ammunition to Moscow which continues to claim that it had nothing to do with it.

Willow Creek Oil Project.  It would be difficult to find another oil field approval on public land since Biden came to office.  Biden's earlier statements about ending our dependence on fossil fuels without regard for Americans going cold this winter; making electricity less and less affordable for the everyday citizen; and seizing the freedom a personal vehicle brings all show he believes such suffering will make us more pliable as the only alternatives are those that fold into his "green" energy agenda.  So why has the Willow Creek project just been approved?  Look no further than the imminent announcement of Biden's reelection.  His overlords use Clinton's famous triangulation tactic to win support from people who would otherwise not consider voting for him in 2024 and are not aligned with his climate politics.

Connecting the dots on Nordstream sabotage and China's sudden emergence as a Middle East peace broker.  The shocking announcement that China had brought together bitter rivals Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia to resume diplomatic relations in a deal negotiated in Beijing is a stunning defeat for America, threatening the basis of our Middle Eastern and world diplomatic power.  If, as it appears, Saudi Arabia is no longer a reliable ally that can be counted upon to keep the Armageddon-mongering mullahs in Iran at bay while warming up to Israel, then the entire power calculus of the Middle East is shattered.  At a minimum, American prestige and perceptions of our power have dramatically crashed, though our propaganda media are doing their best to prevent the domestic public from understanding this.

Alaska prepares for Biden to deny Willow project: This is 'the end of oil in America'.  As Alaska labor and political leaders plead with President Biden to approve America's largest pending oil and gas project in his final deciding moments, the state's governor revealed he's expecting the White House to turn it down.  "We're preparing for them to deny this," Gov. Mike Dunleavy said on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" Tuesday. "And it's sad to say that, but their idea of a compromise, apparently, is to allow only two drilling pads for this oil play called Willow, about 180,000 barrels per day at peak, instead of the three or more that really the investors, ConocoPhillips, need to have to make this thing work for everybody."  The Willow project — currently the largest pending oil and gas plan in the U.S. — is a proposal by ConocoPhillips to develop energy resources in a small portion of what's known as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on Alaska's North Slope.

Did Biden Seal a 'Clandestine' Saudi Oil Deal to Manipulate Prices Ahead of the Midterms?  Back in July, a seemingly desperate President Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia on a high-stakes trip where he met the Saudi Royal family, including the controversial Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  The president took a lot of heat for the trip for several reasons, including his scheduled meetup with the crown prince, who had previously signed off on the murder of WaPo journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  Biden was also criticized for appearing to use the trip to request help from a foreign nation on the oil production front, though the White House denied that was the case.  However, in a bombshell revelation this week, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who will soon lead the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee, announced that his committee will investigate what he believes to be a "secret deal" with Saudi Arabia regarding increasing OPEC+ oil production to manipulate the U.S. energy market ahead of the 2022 midterms.

Wyoming Sues Biden Administration, Alleges Suspensions of Oil Lease Sales [are] Illegal.  The State of Wyoming filed a second lawsuit against the Biden Administration, alleging that its suspension of oil lease sales were illegal.  Gov. Mark Gordon (R-Wyom.) announced that his state filed the lawsuit against the Interior Department for the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) decision to halt oil and gas lease sales in the state.  "This litigation is timely and vital to the interests of Wyoming citizens," said Gordon in a statement.  "Beyond that, Wyoming's energy resources can help power the nation and bring down costs at the pump.  BLM's decision to cancel lease sales sure seems to be a violation of both the letter and the spirit of the law.  "I firmly believe the pause in lease sales was politically driven and not based in law or fact," the governor continued.

If You Really Wanted to Destroy the U.S., Then...  First, you would surrender our prior energy independence.  Reduce new gas and oil leases on federal lands to the lowest levels of any president in history.  Cut back production at precisely the time the world is emerging from a two-year lockdown with pent-up consumer demand.  Make war on coal and nuclear power.  Drain the strategic petroleum reserve to make the pain for consumers more bearable for midterm election advantage.  Cancel the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas field.  Block pipelines like the Keystone oil pipeline and the Constitution natural gas line.  Overregulate and demonize frackers and horizontal drillers.  Ensure there is less investment in their exploration and production.  Making use of internal combustible engines or fossil fuel power generation is prohibitively expensive.  Achieve a green oil dependency along the lines of contemporary Europe.

Biden Admin Authorizes Chevron to Resume Oil Pumping in Venezuela.  The Biden administration authorized on Nov. 26 Chevron Corp.'s joint venture to resume oil pumping in Venezuela.  "The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Venezuela General License (GL) 41, authorizing Chevron Corporation to resume limited natural resource extraction operations in Venezuela," the Treasury Department said in a statement.  The goal of the authorization is to "alleviate the suffering of the Venezuelan people and support the restoration of democracy," according to the statement.  The Biden administration's decision comes after the Nicolas Maduro regime and opposition political alliance Unitary Platform resumed talks in Mexico City.  This was the first negotiation between the two parties since October 2021.

So Biden's letting Venezuela, but not the U.S., pump oil.  Energy prices, even though they have come down a bit, are still sky-high, whether it's heating fuel, gas-powered appliances, electricity, diesel, or the price for a fill-up at the pump.  Over here in San Diego, I saw gas at one station going for $4.99 a gallon, and everyone marveled at how "low" that price was.  We had been paying $5, $6, and $7 in the last six months.  Joe Biden knows this is a problem now that he's lost the House.  He actually thinks that inflation comes from oil rather than monetary printing presses turned up to 11 for government boondoggles, and he's emptied our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to add supply to the market so that gasoline prices will come down for a spell.  That's a solution that will last only so long as the SPR does.  Now he has given Venezuela the green light to pump oil in its partnership with Chevron.

Biden eases sanctions on Venezuela.  The good news is that the Biden administration is finally doing something about the Biden energy crisis, encouraging more oil drilling.  The bad news is that the drilling will be taking place in Venezuela, not the United States.  We saw some hints of this last month, but now it's apparently official.  Yesterday, in an effort to cut a deal with one of the worst socialist tyrants on the planet, Joe Biden lifted some of the sanctions on Nicolas Maduro and the Venezuelan oil giant PDVSA.  The eased sanctions will allow for additional oil to flow from Venezuela and be exported to a world that is currently running out of energy at an alarming pace.  So I assume that all of that unpleasantness over the past eight years or more is just in the rearview mirror now?  Stand by for a few reminders of just who it is that we're doing business with.

Biden Eases Venezuela Sanctions as Opposition Talks Resume.  The Biden administration Saturday eased some oil sanctions on Venezuela in an effort to support newly restarted negotiations between President Nicolás Maduro's government and its opposition.  The Treasury Department is allowing Chevron to resume "limited" energy production in Venezuela after years of sanctions that have dramatically curtailed oil and gas profits that have flowed to Maduro's government.  Earlier this year the Treasury Department again allowed the California-based Chevron and other U.S. companies to perform basic upkeep of wells it operates jointly with state-run oil giant PDVSA.  Under the new policy, profits from the sale of energy would be directed to paying down debt owed to Chevron, rather than providing profits to PDVSA.

Biden Eases Sanctions on Communist Venezuelan Govt.  Biden's administration yesterday authorized Chevron to begin drilling in Venezuela again, easing Trump-era sanctions and giving an economic lifeline to the tyrannical Maduro government who has brought the South American country to absolute economic ruin.  It's illegal in Venezuela to publish the actual currency conversion rates.  Most of the country's economy is now transacted illegally in U.S. dollars.  The sanctions preventing the development of oil reserves in the country were from 2019 when President Trump sanctioned the country for engaging in widespread voter fraud.  The 2020 elections in Venezuela lacked "any credibility", according to the US State Dept. at the time.  Part of Maduro's election-related crimes were creating false charges against political opponents and rounding up opposition leaders and jailing them.  The elections in Venezuela were conducted and overseen by Smartmatic until 2018. Smartmatic later said that the government had the ability to change the results on its systems if it so choosed [sic].  Communist tyrant Nicholas Maduro denounced all election deniers as insurrectionists and seditionists.

Biden Admin Quietly Greenlights Plan to Build Huge Gulf Oil Terminal.  The Biden administration has quietly approved plans to build a new crude oil terminal in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas, seemingly in contradiction to the president's climate agenda.  The Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration approved the application for Enterprise's Sea Port Oil Terminal, one of four proposed offshore oil export terminals, on Monday.  According to the application, the port will be located offshore of Freeport, Texas.  It will have 4.8 million barrels of storage capacity and add 2 million barrels per day to the U.S. oil export capacity.  In its 94-page decision, the Maritime Administration said that it had approved the application because the construction and operation of the port is "in the national interest and consistent with other policy goals and objectives."

Joe Biden Complains Oil Companies 'Should Be Drilling More' After Vowing to End Fossil Fuels.  President Joe Biden complained that oil companies were not drilling enough for oil, despite his long history of trying to block oil and gas production in the United States.  "We haven't slowed them down at all, they should be drilling more than they're doing now," Biden said.  "If they were drilling more we'd have more relief at the pump."  The president spoke about high gas prices during a trip to New Mexico to campaign for Democrat candidates.  Biden, however, has acted several times during his first two years in office to lower the production of oil and gasoline in the United States.

How Joe Biden Spits on Sound Economic Theory.  The powers that be in Washington, D.C. created the Department of Energy [in 1977] in response to all the fear created when OPEC nations cut oil production. [...] It's interesting to note that until 1977, the United States relied on the private sector to deal with energy.  The question is, has the department of energy done anything about the so-called energy crisis since its inception?  We still seem to be in one crisis or another since 1977.  Up until the Department of Energy was created, the private sector seemed to do a better job of managing itself in the free market.  That should come as no surprise to those who adhere to a free-market economy.

Biden's failed secret deal with the Saudis.  Joe Biden, or at least Real President™ Ron Klain, thought they had a cut a deal with the Saudis that would save the Democrats' bacon in the midterms.  Now they are fuming that their conspiracy failed.  So says The New York Times in a bombshell story that were it about Donald Trump would lead to an impeachment.  But because we are talking about a Democrat the story will only cause the Establishment™ to shake their heads in embarrassment over the incompetence of this particular White House.  They tried to defraud the American people — all well and good — but failure is difficult to forgive.  Because they failed, Congress is likely gone.

America's suicidal energy policy has very real costs.  Last week, Saudi Arabia announced, in conjunction with OPEC+, that it would be cutting oil production in the face of dropping prices.  That decision came in spite of the Biden White House's lobbying in favor of increased production, which included a sycophantic visit by President Joe Biden to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  In response to the Saudi announcement, the White House quickly announced that the United States would be reevaluating its relationship with the Kingdom.  Meanwhile, the White House announced that it would be "preparing to scale down sanctions" on Venezuela's tyrannical regime, according to The Wall Street Journal.  The goal: increased oil production from the Marxist dictatorship via loosened restrictions on pumping for Chevron.  The White House continues to keep channels open with the Iranian mullahs as well, soliciting concessions from the same regime that shoots women in the streets for failing to properly wear Islamic head coverings.

Joe Biden Plays the Old Ugly American.  The Left used to accuse imperialist, resource-hungry Yanquis in Washington of cutting selfish deals with illiberal dictatorships in Latin America to grab their natural resources.  How odd then that Joe Biden is now begging the despicable Maduro regime in Venezuela — corrupt, murderous, and anti-American — to produce more of its oil solely to send northward to America.  Biden is quite willing to ease sanctions and condone the human rights abuses of Maduro — if his dictatorship will just open its oil spigots before the November midterm elections.

Saudi Arabia Condemns Biden Insults, Rejects Halting Oil Production Slash Until After Midterms.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia issued an outraged statement Thursday condemning the White House, without naming any official in particular, for claiming that Riyadh supported an OPEC+ decision to cut oil production by two million barrels a day because it had decided to side with Russia in the ongoing Ukraine war.  The extensive statement also mentioned rumors, first reported in the Wall Street Journal, that the leftist administration of President Joe Biden had attempted to convince Saudi officials to delay any oil production cut until after the midterm elections.  While the Foreign Affairs Ministry neither confirmed nor denied that American diplomats had made the request, it rejected the idea as potentially having "negative economic consequences."

It Sure Looks Like Joe Biden Is Trying to Blackmail Saudi Arabia to Interfere in the 2022 Election.  If you were alive during the Trump era, there was one phrase you probably grew tired of hearing: Quid pro quo.  For months on end, non-stop "quid pro quo" coverage dominated the news as Trump was accused of holding up military aid to Ukraine in order to secure an investigation into Hunter Biden's corruption in the country.  Eventually, that led to one of the more farcical impeachments in history, with no actual direct evidence of Trump being involved in said "quid pro quo."  I bring good news, though:  Quid pro quos are good again.  Well, at least if you are Joe Biden because it sure looks like he is trying to enact one in order to save the Democratic Party from excess pain in November.  According to Saudi Arabia, the president is attempting to get to the Kingdom to postpone a cut in oil production by a month, conveniently putting it off until after the mid-term elections.

Report: Biden Tried to Persuade Saudis to Delay Production Cut.  The obvious way to "fight OPEC's control of the energy market" is by producing all the oil and gas we can.  It was obvious to Donald Trump, anyway.  It is hard to believe that Biden and his advisers are actually this dim.  Instead of responding rationally by maximizing our own production, the Biden administration wants to "punish" Saudi Arabia.

America's Suicidal Energy Policy Has Very Real Costs.  Last week, Saudi Arabia announced, in conjunction with OPEC+, that it would be cutting oil production in the face of dropping prices.  That decision came in spite of the Biden White House's lobbying in favor of increased production, which included a sycophantic visit by President Joe Biden to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  In response to the Saudi announcement, the White House quickly announced that the United States would be reevaluating its relationship with the Kingdom.  Meanwhile, the White House announced that it would be "preparing to scale down sanctions" on Venezuela's tyrannical regime, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Who Blew Up the Nord Stream Pipelines?  On September 26, 2022, seismologists in Denmark and Sweden recorded underwater seismic activity in the Baltic Sea between 2.1 and 2.3 on the Richter scale, equivalent to an explosion of several hundred pounds of TNT.  After investigations, authorities in both countries determined that there had been apparent efforts to sabotage the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.  Both lines of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and one line of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, yet to be commissioned, were impacted. [...] As every fan of detective stories knows, determining the means and motive of suspects is the key to solving a mystery.  Given the geopolitical nature of this issue, it seems that there are four likely suspects: Russia, the European Union (E.U.), the United States (U.S.), and China.  Let's examine each one separately in an effort to determine if they had the means and motive to sabotage the pipelines.

The Beginnings of an All-Out Energy Catastrophe.  Gasoline at the pump will now be on a sizable upswing on Election Day a month from now as Americans vote for members of Congress.  Unbeknownst to the public until now, Biden officials spent weeks intensely lobbying OPEC countries, in person on their turf, hat in hand, not to cut oil supplies; in retrospect, this pathetic begging further exposes to the world the impotency to which U.S. influence has been reduced.  One OPEC diplomat described Hochstein and his colleagues' efforts as "desperate."  And it cannot be forgotten that the whole point of Biden visiting Saudi Arabia in the summer and meeting with the crown prince was to convince the pre-eminent OPEC nation to boost oil production in order to bring down prices for American consumers.  By contrast, during the pandemic in 2020, President Donald Trump's forceful phone negotiations with the crown prince to protect a then-revitalized U.S. oil industry from OPEC saturation amid a COVID-ravaged global collapse in demand was described as "an extraordinary display of U.S. influence over global oil output."  Some congressional Democrats have actually reacted to the oil supply cut by explicitly calling for the insane idea of completely ceasing our military engagement with Saudi Arabia and propelling the kingdom into the arms of Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Forget the blame game, Nordstream Sabotage is about the Great Reset & nothing else.  Last night it was reported that "blasts" had damaged both Nordstream pipelines that carry gas exported from Russia to Germany and other nations across northern Europe.  As a result, large amounts of natural gas were leaking into the Baltic sea, and supplies through the pipeline were completely shut off.  The alleged incident has caused a furious round of blame tennis, with accusations flying back and forth across what — for the sake of simplicity — we'll call Iron Curtain 2.0.  The European Union has claimed the pipes were "sabotaged", but doesn't directly blame anyone in their statement.  The Telegraph is already blaming actively the Russians, specifically Western Bogeyman President Vladimir Putin. [...] On the flip side, the Russians have said the idea they would sabotage their own pipeline is "stupid."  Some Western alternate media have pointed to Joe Biden's vow to totally shut down Nordstream 2 back in February as a sign the US was behind the alleged attack.  The former Polish defence minister has come right out and said that NATO forces blew up the pipeline, according to Forbes.  The question — one it seems I keep asking the last two years — is "does it really matter?"

Energy Inflation Isn't An Accident, It's A Planned Demolition.  The West is experiencing its third energy crisis.  The first, in 1973, was caused by the near-quintupling of the price of crude oil by Gulf oil producers in response to America's support for Israel in the Yom Kippur war.  Their action brought an end to what the French call the trente glorieuses — the unprecedented post-World War II economic expansion.  The second occurred at the end of the 1970s, when Iran's Islamic revolution led to a more than doubling of oil prices.  This again inflicted great economic hardship, but the policy response was far better.  Inflation was purged at the cost of deep recession.  Energy markets were permitted to function.  High oil prices induced substitution effects, particularly in the power sector, and stimulated increased supply.  In the space of nine months, the oil price cratered from $30 a barrel in November 1985 to $10 a barrel in July 1986.  It's no wonder that the economic expansion that started under Ronald Reagan had such long legs.  This time is different.  The third energy crisis was not sparked by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies or by Iranian ayatollahs.  It was self-inflicted, a foreseeable outcome of policy choices made by the West:  Germany's disastrous Energiewende that empowered Vladimir Putin to launch an energy war against Europe; Britain's self-regarding and self-destructive policy of "powering past coal" and its decision to ban fracking; and, as Joseph Toomey shows in a recent powerful essay, President Biden's war on the American oil and gas industry.

Energy Inflation Was by Design.  Like Obama before him, Biden promised that the public would readily embrace his Green New Deal and that it would reduce energy prices, create millions of new high-paying jobs, boost economic growth, enhance energy security, stabilize the electric grid, reduce energy dependency, and help save the planet.  Rather than achieving any of its stated goals, Obama's plan was characterized by high prices, Solyndra-style megaflops, increasing grid instability, rent-seeking, soaring public debt, destabilizing subsidies, further offshoring of green energy components, substandard economic growth rates, growing social division, and precious little in the way of green energy job creation.  The same will happen for Biden.

OPEC Humiliates Biden While the UK Increases Domestic Oil Production.  It hasn't been a good week for Joe Biden. [...] OPEC+ announced that it would be cutting oil production in the weeks leading up to the 2022 midterm elections, despite his repeated pleas for them to boost production.  It was the latest in a long line of humiliations for Joe Biden — and, of course, entirely his own doing.  He's the one who put the brakes on domestic oil production and drilling, outsourcing our energy to foreign nations — including our enemies.  Now, gas prices are going to shoot up just before the midterm elections because of Biden's war on domestic energy.  For sure, increasing domestic energy production would go a long way toward fixing this problem, but Biden either hasn't figured that out yet or just doesn't care.

Biden hates Republicans so much, he would rather give oil money to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia than Texas.  When Biden took office — not even two years ago — oil and gas were plentiful and cheap.  The United States had recently become, thanks to fracking, a net energy exporter for the first time in 50 years.  Now Democrats and the media are trying to pretend that presidents have nothing to do with the price of oil and gas.  But in fact, Biden shut down drilling, shut down pipelines and, with help from the "environmental and social governance" crowd in the financial industry, shut down capital to the fossil fuel industry.  Shockingly, prices skyrocketed for gasoline, diesel fuel, home heating oil and natural gas, with knock-on increases in costs for food, transportation, manufacturing, chemicals and electricity.  Then sanctions on Russian oil sent prices even higher, with no spare US production to pick up the slack anymore.  At first Team Biden celebrated these price increases, noting they would encourage consumers to use less energy and buy new, more efficient vehicles and appliances.

The Democrats Wrecked My Retirement.  On Day One, Biden cut the legs out from under American energy independence.  Oil, gasoline, and natural gas prices skyrocketed.  Why did the administration do this?  Because they think it's cool and woke to be Green.  The Squad likes Green, and the administration wants to be "in" with that ilk and with the extreme voters who support that.  Green energy and renewables can't come close to supporting our energy needs and won't for the foreseeable future.  Remember, Biden, Pelosi, Kerry, Obama, Gore, etc., etc. — none of them lives by Green rules.  But they expect you to.  All I know is, now that I'm a retiree, gasoline has gone from $2.11/gallon to $3.76/gallon.  And it'll be back over $4.00/gallon shortly, as soon as Biden's game-playing with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve runs out of tricks.

Biden's Finger Pointing At Gas Stations Shows His Policies Aren't Rooted In Reality.  In a baffling series of remarks this week, President Joe Biden admonished gas station owners to slash prices and to "do it now," blaming the latest gasoline price increase on greed.  The president's comments came as the average price per gallon hovers around $3.80 and as millions of Americans are worried about the rising cost of heating their homes.  Amid global instability, wildly fluctuating energy markets and rampant inflation, the president fails to realize that government policies and regulations have made matters worse.  There's even more proof of this at the state level, where policy decisions have caused energy prices to vary significantly state by state.

Biden's Anti-Drilling Policies Have Cut Oil Supplies as Much as OPEC+ Decision.  President Joe Biden's anti-drilling policies have cut oil supplies as much as the decision Wednesday by OPEC+ to slash two million barrels of oil production, an analysis by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity shows.  If former President Donald Trump's energy policies would have been continued, American oil production would be four to five times greater than the amount of oil Biden has released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).  According to the study, Biden's war on American energy will cost the United States nearly $100 billion in output every year, which translates to between two and three million barrels of oil a day, the same amount of production OPEC+ cut Wednesday.

America needs to drill, baby, drill, but Biden refuses.  Prices at the pump had already started edging up before OPEC+ decided Wednesday to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day, ignoring the White House's frantic appeals.  "It's clear that OPEC+ is aligning with Russia with today's announcement," flamed White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.  Wrong again, Karine:  The Saudis and the rest are simply serving their own interests by limiting supply to keep prices high; they're gettin' while the gettin' is good.  Too bad your boss, President Joe Biden, refuses to serve America's interests by unleashing US energy producers.  Instead, Biden is releasing another 10 million barrels from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which was already at a decades-long low from his prior actions.  And never mind that this will only make up for five days of the OPEC+ cuts:  The prez needs to do something basically symbolic — because his ideology stands in the way of doing anything meaningful.

Biden admin looks to scale down Venezuela sanctions, allow more pumping of oil rated among world's dirtiest.  The Biden administration is reportedly gearing up to wind down sanctions against Venezuela's authoritarian regime, clearing the way for Chevron to resume its oil operations and reopen U.S. and European markets.  People familiar with the proposal told The Wall Street Journal that any sanctions relief wound hinge on talks between the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the country's opposition regarding free and fair presidential elections in 2024.  So far, such talks have failed to materialize.

Tucker Carlson Discusses Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage, Almost Certainly a U.S. Covert Action Against Russia.  Tucker Carlson accurately outlined the most likely suspect of the sabotage against Russia's Nord Stream I and II pipeline today.  When you consider the media blitz by Joe Biden's National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, last weekend (ABC, CNN, NBC and CBS); specifically pointing out the U.S. position against Russia; it is almost a certainty that U.S. action was behind the underwater detonation of explosives to take out Nord Stream pipeline system.  [Video clip]

SPR Oil Level Hits 40-Year Low as Hurricane Season Fires Up.  Thanks, Brandon.  [A]lmost anytime even a moderate strength hurricane enters the Gulf of Mexico, oil production on the rigs at sea to the refineries that dot the southern U.S. Gulf Coast tends to shut down or is heavily restricted until the storm passes.  For especially ferocious storms that hit vulnerable areas in the Gulf and trigger longer work stoppages at the refineries or rigs, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) usually makes the news headlines, as the U.S. government relies on the emergency supply of crude oil to keep the country running and to stave off high prices and panic.  That's what it's there for — emergencies.  The U.S. government has tapped the SPR after several hurricanes in the past, including Ida, Gustaf, and, of course, Katrina.  But under the current administration, the SPR is also routinely used as a political expediency tool.  President Joe Biden, in a desperate effort to bring gas prices down after they skyrocketed thanks mainly to his anti-American energy independence policies, has released and sold off hundreds of millions of barrels of oil from the SPR.

Summers: "Insane" that Biden's blocking pipelines for oil transport.  Is there anything sane about Joe Biden's energy policies?  For that matter, was there anything sane about Barack Obama's energy policies while Larry Summers served as Obama's National Economic Council chair?  Answer:  not really.  We got continually lectured during that administration that we couldn't drill our way to energy independence, an argument proven false almost as soon as Donald Trump took office.  Biden and his team haven't made that argument, at least not explicitly, but they have made it very clear that they have no intention of drilling more to re-acquire energy-independent status.  Even with that, however, Summer considers hostility to pipeline creation "kind of insane."  The oil still has to get transported, no?

Judge Permanently Blocks Biden Oil and Gas Leasing Pause in 13 States.  A federal judge Thursday issued a permanent injunction against the Biden administration's pause of new oil and gas leasing in federal lands.  The injunction applies to the 13 states that sued the Biden administration over the moratorium in March 2021, including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.  Terry Doughty, the U.S.  district judge for the Western District of Louisiana, ruled that the White House overreached in the ban.  President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14008 on Jan. 27, 2021, banning all new oil and natural gas leases on federal lands and offshore waters.  The order didn't cancel existing leases on federal lands and offshore waters.  Leases on private lands were also not affected.  Thirteen states led by Louisiana sued the Biden administration, saying the lease ban violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), which governs offshore oil and gas leases, and the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA), which governs onshore land leases on federal lands.

Chinese Economy Nosedive Continues, Sinking Oil Prices.  A poll conducted by the Caixin news service on Monday found China's economy foundering as the second half of 2022 began, with slower manufacturing activity, higher unemployment, and a depressed real estate market.  China's weakening economy reduced its demand for oil, combining with downbeat manufacturing data from other countries to bring oil prices down by four percent.  Caixin's poll found that Chinese manufacturing activity slowed considerably in July — or possibly even contracted — after the latest round of coronavirus lockdowns ended in June and produced an exuberant surge in production.

Cash Bonanza:  Iran Has Made $44.7 Billion in Illegal Oil Sales Since Biden Took Office.  Iran's illegal oil trade has boomed under the Biden administration, with the hardline regime selling more than $44 billion worth of its heavily sanctioned oil to malign regimes like China, Syria, and Venezuela, according to figures published by a watchdog group.  From January 2021, when President Joe Biden took office, to June 2022, Iran sold around $44.7 billion in oil primarily to China.  The regime's export revenues between March 2021 and March 2022 from oil, gas, and related products "totaled $39 billion, compared [with] $22 billion for the previous year — a rise of 77 percent and an extra $17 billion," according to United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI), a watchdog group that tracks Iran's network of illegal oil tankers.

Biden Depletes America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Another Historic Low.  The Department of Energy announced the release of an additional 20 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Tuesday afternoon [7/26/2022], marking yet another desperate measure by the Biden administration to lower gas prices at the pump.  "The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) today announced an additional Notice of Sale of up to 20 million additional barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).  This Notice of Sale is part of President Biden's announcement on March 31, 2022 authorizing the sale of crude oil from the SPR to address the significant market supply disruption caused by Putin's war on Ukraine and help lower energy costs for American families," DOE released in [a] statement.

Biden Energy Security Official Says Administration Cannot and Will Not Accept or Approve Long-Term Oil and Gas Development.  This guy popped up after the trip to Saudi Arabia and has been spouting hypocrisies ever since.  In this first segment, White House senior energy adviser Amos Hochstein, in charge of U.S. energy security, says the administration cannot accept or approve any long-term oil and gas development that undermines the urgency of the crisis they are exploiting.  Instead, Hochstein says U.S. energy producers should invest in oil and gas development that turns an immediate profit.  Keeping the oil and gas industry in a perpetual state of shortage, overcapacity and expense, allows the "transition" to windmills and solar to remain urgent.  Put another way, the energy crisis is part of the plan.  [Video clip]

Biden Begs [a] Middle East Nation To Give Us Oil After He Throttled U.S. Energy.  President Joe Biden landed in the Middle East on Wednesday with high hopes for his first visit to the region as commander-in-chief.  The agenda included revitalizing a nuclear deal with Iran, pursuing peace in Yemen, and desperately pleading to the Saudis for increased oil production.  While the Biden administration has sought to throw cold water on claims that his first trip to the Arabian Peninsula is an effort to produce more oil, the president himself nearly said as much in The Washington Post.  In justifying his upcoming visit with the Saudi crown prince — the same prince the U.S. government says is responsible for the execution of Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi — Biden explained that the nation's "energy resources are vital for mitigating the impact on global supplies of Russia's war in Ukraine."

Why Biden Is Putting Us In Danger.  On Friday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the Biden Administration's policy of sending American oil to China and other nations.  "When it comes to the oil, it is something that oil companies decide...  The Department of Energy can't dictate what oil companies do with the oil they purchase or where they ship it to sell."  But the United States Department of Energy (DOE) does decide to whom it will sell oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).  "A total of 16 companies responded to this notice, submitting 126 bids for evaluation," noted DOE.  A dozen won contracts.  One was Unipec America, the trading arm of Sinopec, the China Petrochemical Corporation, which is wholly owned by the Chinese government.  There is no evidence that DOE went out of its way to sell American oil to Unipec, and little reason to believe that the U.S. could have refined that oil into gasoline, diesel, and other products had it remained in the U.S.  After all, U.S. oil refineries are operating at 94% capacity.

Oil from U.S. reserves [is being] sent overseas as gasoline prices stay high.  More than 5 million barrels of oil that were part of a historic U.S. emergency reserves release to lower domestic fuel prices were exported to Europe and Asia last month, according to data and sources, even as U.S. gasoline and diesel prices hit record highs.  The export of crude and fuel is blunting the impact of the moves by U.S. President Joe Biden to lower record pump prices.  Biden on Saturday renewed a call for gasoline suppliers to cut their prices, drawing criticism from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Those US Oil Reserves Joe Biden's Tapping to Lower Our Gas Prices Are Going Overseas.  The nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo caused fear and angry gas-station lines across the country.  The underground reservoirs, believed to be the world's largest, were intended as an emergency oil-savings account for an actual energy crisis threatening national security.  The SPR was not intended for a political crisis when Joe Biden's Democrats face midterm election annihilation over inflation and outrageous gasoline prices above $6 a gallon caused by the same president's ideological war on fossil fuels.  Biden's announced "plan," which drew considerable criticism, is to draw down a million barrels a day for 180 days from the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve stored in vast underground salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana. [...] But it turns out, contrary to what you might have thought and hoped with all the Biden administration hype about easing gas prices for his countrymen, the consumers who will directly benefit from using up American reserves are not Americans.

Biden is Selling America's Reserve Oil to Foreign Countries.  As a result of his domestic war on the oil and gas industry, energy prices for American families continue to hit records with no relief in sight.  For months, President Joe Biden has repeatedly tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and claimed it was helping to ease the pain at the pump.  Not only has the depletion of the emergency supply not decreased gas prices, we're learning the supply is being sold to foreign countries.  "More than 5 million barrels of oil that were part of a historic U.S. emergency oil reserves release aimed at lowering domestic fuel prices were exported to Europe and Asia last month, according to data and sources, even as U.S. gasoline and diesel prices touched record highs," Reuters reports.  "The export of crude and fuel is blunting the impact of the moves by U.S. President Joe Biden designed to lower record pump prices." [...] While Biden has been selling off America's reserve oil, he's been publicly berating oil companies and private gas station owners.  The White House has also classified oil producers as unpatriotic.

Biden Plan to Cap Russian Oil Prices Could Seriously Backfire, Which Means It's Likely to Happen.  The G7 plan to create another economic sanction against Russia by capping the price anyone could pay for Russian oil has a serious downside.  If Russia slows down the export of oil, global oil prices will jump dramatically.  That policy outcome would mean a massive increase in the price of gasoline for U.S. consumers.  Because the consequences are horrible, that's precisely the reason Joe Biden might push to have the Russian price cap.  Every policy Joe Biden has historically supported, has been the exact opposite of what should have been done.

Biden Takes Aim at America's Largest Oil Field, Threatens to Stop Production, Sending Gas Prices Soaring.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing to cite the United States' largest oil field for violating ozone pollution standards, a move that will threaten the end of oil and gas production in the region.  According to the Texas Governor's Office, the proposed regulations will directly affect the Permian Basin, the largest oil field in the United States, accounting for 95,000,000 gallons of gasoline per day or 40% of the oil produced domestically.  This would be just one more move from Biden's administration to impact the lives of every American by reducing the fuel supply and causing gas prices to soar well beyond Biden's record of $5 per gallon.

Five Reasons to Impeach Joe Biden.  [#3] Biden is waging war on the energy sector to deliberately destroy the American economy.  Under Trump, the U.S. became energy independent.  Biden reversed Trump's sensible energy policies, causing the worst inflation in 40 years, runaway gas, food, and heating prices, and looming recession.  As far back as the 2020 election, Biden has boasted about his intention to destroy our reliance on fossil fuels.  "Harvesting of fuel was cut back drastically," said Bill O'Reilly, "and that caused the price of gas at the pump to rise, and that lit inflation, as all other goods went up in price as well because they are trucked to the stores and businesses.  That is all on President Biden."  Now millions of Americans can't afford to put food on the table.  Biden's decisions are informed by his surrender to the extreme left wing of the Democratic Party.  Their plan is to destroy the American economy in order to bring about a Marxist, socialist tyranny controlled by the unaccountable bureaucrats of the Deep State.  We cannot tolerate a president who seeks the transformation of America into another Venezuela.

Karine Jean-Pierre tells gas companies it is their 'patriotic duty' to increase production and lower profits.  White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called on oil companies to produce more oil and gas products as a 'patriotic duty' to counter rising prices amid Russia's war on Ukraine.  Her message came after President Joe Biden accused big oil companies of seeing their profit margin triple on refining, amid global energy shortages and record gas prices.

The Editor says...
Has Karine Jean-Pierre ever run a business, or worked in a profit-making organization?  Not as far as I can tell.

Putin Is Now Selling More Oil at Higher Prices Than Before Joe Biden's Embargo.  Joe Biden's much-heralded international embargo of Russian oil purchases has flopped.  Vladimir Putin is selling more oil to the world now than before his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine provoked Biden's ineffective boycott.  Not only that, but because of the economic and political uncertainty surrounding the Russian's "special operation" and the mixed response of other countries, the global price of oil has surged about 30 percent.  So, Putin is not only selling more oil because of his war.  He's also reaping much greater revenues at higher prices because of his war.  Which provides far greater sums to finance the now prolonged fighting that Biden professes to oppose.

Leaders of Latin-America Nations, Mexico, Bolivia, Guatemala and Honduras Boycott Joe Biden's Latin-America Summit.  Within the same 30-day cycle Joe Biden asked Venezuela to produce and deliver more oil in order to help him politically.  The Venezuelan government, having been the subject of an attempted coup and sanctions driven by the DC interventionist mindset, refused to assist.  Joe Biden then refused to invite Venezuela to his Latin-America summit scheduled for this week.  Latin-America leaders are not stupid.  It doesn't matter whether the self-interested bully comes from the east or the west, they are not blind to the parasitic self-interest contained within the blackmail of any larger nations on the geopolitical stage; especially as the cleaving of the west and east is taking place with increased ferocity.  Today [6/6/2022] Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador announced he will not attend Joe Biden's Latin-America summit.

Don't grovel abroad, President Biden:  Drill at home.  President Joe Biden is walking back all his tough talk on the Saudis in hopes the perfidious princes will pump more oil to alleviate the global crunch that has America suffering $5-a-gallon prices.  But rather than grovel in Riyadh, he should take his foot off the neck of the US energy sector.  Biden vowed to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah state" back in 2019 for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.  But now The New York Times reports he's looking to travel over there and shake MBS's hand as a thank-you for OPEC's decision to expand oil production Thursday.  (Biden denies the report.)  Yet the prez won't drop his war on US energy production, even as surging prices are one reason inflation is at 8.3%.

Energy trader:  US may let sanctioned Iranian oil onto market without nuclear deal.  The US may allow more sanctioned Iranian oil onto global markets even without a revival of the 2015 nuclear accord, according to a Sunday report that quoted a major independent crude trader.  "Uncle Sam might just allow a little bit more of that oil to flow," Mike Muller, head of Asia at Vitol Group, said Sunday on a podcast produced by Dubai-based Gulf Intelligence, according to Bloomberg.  "If the midterms are dominated by the need to get gas prices lower in America, turning a somewhat greater blind eye to the sanctioned barrels flowing out is probably something you might expect to see," he added.  "US intervention in these flows has always been pretty sparse."

Ri-i-i-i-ight.
Team Biden Quietly Admits Math Error Behind Long Delays in Oil, Gas Permits.  The Biden administration privately acknowledged late last month that a mathematical error is delaying the federal government's offshore oil and gas program.  In an April 29 letter to industry leaders obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that a subagency "discovered a miscalculation" that has caused a massive backlog in permitting.  Richard Spinrad acknowledged in his letter that the National Marine Fisheries Service — the subagency tasked with analyzing the impact of offshore drilling projects on wildlife — has used faulty computer modeling on such impacts.

Biden team's bright idea to get Venezuela to pump oil for us panned by senior diplomat.  A few weeks ago, the Joe Biden team, in response to Congress cutting off Russian oil imports, tried to get Venezuela to pump some oil for us.  The logic, of course, was to let bygones be bygones, and ignore the inconvenient little detail about Venezuela's oil company being full of drug dealers, which is among the things that got them sanctioned and cut off in the first place.  Why not have Venezuela replace Vladimir Putin for oil?  It sounded so logical, so easy.  Anything but pump our own.  Well, now the details of that caper are out and let's just say it isn't pretty.

Biden Maladministration Cancels Oil & Gas Lease Sales, While Demanding More Oil Production.  [Scroll down]  At $106/bbl and natural gas at $7.70/mcf, US oil companies are producing as much oil & gas as we can.  No amount of compelling can quickly increase production.  It takes years of investment to significantly increase production.

China Lurks Behind Most Crises Facing America.  Since the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last August and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it has felt like the world is on fire.  But in the midst of these attention-grabbing crises, there is an even more pernicious threat facing the United States and the signs are all around us.  Behind most major foreign policy issues lies China.  Take the Iran nuclear deal.  Media reports indicate that Iran's fleet of tankers has ferried at least $22 billion worth of illicit oil to the People's Republic of China since 2021.  This has provided the Iranian regime with a major source of revenue and raised questions about the Biden administration's lax enforcement of sanctions.  It is as good an example of China's duplicity as can be found today.  But it is not an isolated incident.

America's emergency oil supply is heading to Europe.  Biden's executive orders ending the Keystone Pipeline, along with exploration and drilling on almost all federal land, when combined with the Democrats' and RINOs' uncontrolled spending (made possible by printing money), has created unprecedented inflation in America.  To try to stave off the worst of it before the mid-terms, Biden recently announced he was releasing 1 million barrels of oil per day from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  However, it turns out that he's sending at least some of that oil to Europe!  When you have a government that destroys America's energy independence, you're going to have rising fuel prices.  (As an aside, Congress really needs to end the president's — any presidents' — power to have that kind of control over oil transport, drilling, and exploration in America.)  Maybe Americans could sustain those increased fuel prices but, if you add to that Modern Monetary Theory, which says that America can just print money forever and no one will notice, you've got trouble, big trouble.

Biden Puts the Lie to All the Democrats' Arguments About Fossil Fuels.  The Biden administration has, at long last, finally decided to follow the law — only just a bit.  And it really doesn't want people to know about it either way, which is why the announcement was made on Good Friday afternoon [4/15/2022].  After refusing to comply with a court order requiring him to sell leases for oil and gas exploration on federal land last year, Biden is finally succumbing to the pressure of high gas prices.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that he is selling a mere fraction of the leases the government would normally sell.  This probably belongs in the category of "better than nothing."

Rep. Ilhan Omar stands by vote against Russian oil embargo.  Minnesota 5th District Congresswoman Ilhan Omar took a lot of criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for her vote against a Russian oil ban last month.  It passed overwhelmingly in the House by a vote of 414 to 17, with just Rep. Omar, one other Democrat, and 15 Republicans voting against it.  "I don't think it's actually that controversial," Omar said in an interview recorded for "At Issue with Tom Hauser" on Sunday morning.  She said President Biden had already banned Russian oil imports through executive order and says that will make it easier to end the ban if it can be used as leverage to end the war in Ukraine.  Last week the Senate voted 100-0 to ban the Russian oil and sent the bill to President Biden.

The ship of state is adrift under Biden.  Recently the White House said it plans to release up to 180 million barrels of oil from America's strategic reserves, a million barrels a day for 180 days, to help bring down near-record gas prices that were climbing well before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  This will be the largest release of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve since it was established in the early 1970s.  It should be noted that the Strategic Reserve is an "emergency" stockpile of petroleum created in 1975 after oil supplies were interrupted during the 1973-1974 oil embargo.  It exists to mitigate future supply disruptions and should not be used as a political bargaining chip.  The release of oil is just the latest in a string of haphazard, impromptu policies that have sown confusion among our allies and projected weakness and indecision to the wider world.

It Took Just Four Days For Biden's Oil Price Scheme To Go Up In Smoke.  Oil prices shot up Monday [4/4/2022] despite President Joe Biden's plan to curb gasoline prices by releasing a million barrels of emergency oil reserves daily.  The Brent crude index, the global oil benchmark, increased to $108.07 per barrel Monday morning, surging more than 3.1% overnight.  The U.S. WTI index skyrocketed more than 3.4% past $103 per barrel Monday.  "Will the release of barrels from strategic reserves fill a shortfall caused by sanctions and buyer aversion to Russian oil?  In a word, no," Stephen Brennock, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates, told Reuters.  Biden announced Thursday that he ordered the Department of Energy to release a million barrels of oil stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) every day for six months.  The following day, the International Energy Agency said its 31 member nations pledged their own separate release of 62.7 million additional barrels of oil.

Oil prices shouldn't hinge on dictators issuing executive orders to kill fossil fuel companies.  Joe Biden and the Democrats have declared war on oil companies since the day Biden took office, and from that moment on, oil prices have spiraled.  Yet, not once has Biden taken blame for the ruination of the poor, the middle class, and small businesses that have taken the brunt of the higher prices. [...] This didn't happen because of Vladimir Putin, as Biden claims.  First, Biden called the price increases transitory.  Then, he and his administration claimed that his good economic policies caused growth and the demand caused the price increases.  What a joke.  We had high demand throughout Trump's term and ... low prices.  Then he said the oil companies were greedy and blamed them for the high prices.  Isn't it amazing that the greedy oil companies weren't that greedy while Trump was president?  Then, he started blaming Putin for all inflation even though it has been occurring since he took office.

Biden signals third year of offshore oil-leasing delay in gulf.  The Biden administration doesn't anticipate selling offshore drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico through at least October 2023, effectively stretching a delay in that activity to a third year, according to economic projections included in its newly released budget proposal.  The numbers show expected revenues from offshore oil auction bids and annual rental payments on existing leases are set to plummet in fiscal 2023 by about $370.4 million to just $25 million.  That reflects the government's typical haul from two auctions of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico.  The anticipated offshore leasing pause comes despite the war in Ukraine and high costs for oil, gas and gasoline that have prompted administration officials to implore energy companies to pump more crude.  The Gulf of Mexico generates about 15% of the nation's crude production.

Biden administration to release 1M barrels of oil daily from US reserves.  The Biden administration will release 1 million barrels of oil each day for the next six months from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum reserve in an effort to combat soaring gasoline prices.  Biden formally announced the move at a White House event Thursday afternoon, saying that his plan would release around 180 million additional barrels from the reserve.  That would leave the already-depleted SPR down to around 388 million barrels, the lowest level since March 1984.  The White House said ahead of the president's remarks that "This record release will provide a historic amount of supply to serve as a bridge until the end of the year when domestic production ramps up."

The Editor says...
The Keystone XL pipeline, which Biden killed, would have delivered almost the same amount of oil per day.  Biden, or whoever makes his decisions, is systematically dismantling this country.

The Sheer Madness of Today's Left.  When Biden entered office, the United States was the largest gas and oil producer in the world.  Yet he immediately began jawboning the oil and gas industry about their fated doom on the horizon, pressuring lending agencies not to aid the American frackers, canceling pipelines, ending ANWR, and stopping all new federal gas and oil leases.  So Biden achieved his goal of higher prices and less U.S. production.  But now politics wars with green dogmatism.  And madness once again ensues.

The Biden Administration Does Not Have a Strategy.  Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is not picking up Joe Biden's phone calls.  How did we get to such an embarrassing moment in history?  The United States has been the security guarantor for the Middle Eastern country since the end of World War II, in exchange for the Saudi's continual provision of cheap oil and a pledge that the country would use the U.S. dollar to conduct all oil-related transactions with other nations.  The Saudi kingdom's flagrant violations of human rights against its own citizens were highlighted by later U.S. administrations time and again, but those demarches never seriously put the dominance of the dollar in jeopardy.

Turn On The Spigots.  President Trump quickly and radically reversed the focus and direction of America's standing on the international stage.  Yet even more quickly *President Biden has tanked America's position, drained her of her leverage, and seems content to literally have no say in events that the entire world will be shaped by.  None of this to mention that in cutting off our energy production Biden's administration personally funded Putin's war machine.  The solution to all of this is pretty simple, but the American people need to express the collective will that we tell Washington what to do — not the other way around.  Turn on the spigots.  Sell our energy to Europe and watch the price drop here at home.  We can bankrupt Russia and Iran in the process.  We can reduce the financial pain for every American who drives a vehicle almost overnight.  We can re-employ all the pipeline workers, and leased drilling operators immediately.  And we can alert the world that America is not diminished but potentially stronger than ever.

U.S. Imports from Russia in January Nearly 5-Times as Great as Exports.  The value of the products that the United States imported from Russia in January — before U.S sanctions were imposed on Russia after its February 24 invasion of Ukraine — was nearly five times as great as the value of the products that the United States exported to Russia during that month, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  In January, according to the official Census Bureau data, the United States imported $1,959,400,000 in products from Russia.  That same month, the United States exported only $396,800,000 in products to Russia.

The Editor says...
Why does the Census Bureau have anything to do with oil imports?

Ukraine and the Great Energy Reset.  [Scroll down]  Asking American producers to increase "output immediately" would also be a mere symbolic gesture.  It takes time to expand production significantly.  Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer, America's biggest independent shale-energy company, warned a few days ago that turning on a dime can't happen following the years of hammering shale companies have taken from investors and politicians.  Of course, if the government were to anchor that request in a substantive and dramatic shift in policies and legislation, not merely rhetorical political theater, then it would have an immediate impact in dampening price escalations.  Today's energy prices reflect traders' beliefs about the future.

Putin snickers:  Guess who owns a big chunk of Venezuela's oil?  Under pressure from a veto-proof majority in Congress, Joe Biden loudly announced a cutoff of energy purchases from Russia, amounting to about 7% of U.S. energy imports.  "Russian oil will no longer be accepted at U.S. ports — and the American people will deal another powerful blow against Putin's war machine," he tweeted.  [Tweet]  Russia had been sending about 600,000 barrels of oil a day to the states in a big export surge, following Biden's bans on federal leases for drilling, halt to the Keystone XL pipeline, and other measures intended to bankrupt Big Oil in the name of "going green."

Gas and Oil:  Anywhere But Here.  The Biden administration's energy policies could not possibly be less coherent.  The administration, from its first day in office, moved aggressively to suppress fossil fuel production in the U.S.  The inevitable result has been a sharp rise in the prices of oil and gas.  Having caused the problem, the administration has now set out to remedy it by buying gas and oil wherever it can be found — from Russia, notwithstanding the Ukraine invasion; from Saudi Arabia; and most recently from Venezuela.

US Will Ban Russian Oil & Gas Imports, End Trade Relations with Moscow and Belarus.  The United States is effectively reimplimenting Cold War era restrictions on Russian oil and gas imports, as well as ending trade relations with the Eurasian country.  "A bipartisan group of lawmakers said on Monday [3/7/2022] that they would move forward with legislation that would ban imports of Russian energy into the United States and suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus in response to the invasion of Ukraine," the New York Times reported.  "The legislation is aimed at inflicting further financial pain on Russia and Belarus, which has been aiding the conflict, by cutting off Russia's oil exports into the United States and giving President Biden the ability to increase tariffs on products from both countries," the report added.

Shell to stop buying Russian oil and gas, apologizes for recent purchase.  Oil giant Shell apologized on Tuesday [3/8/2022] for its purchase of Russian crude oil last week and announced it will withdraw from involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons due to the country's invasion of Ukraine.  "We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products like petrol and diesel — despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking — was not the right one and we are sorry," Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said in a statement.  The company said it will also shut its service stations, aviation fuels and lubricants operations in Russia.

This Invasion Is Brought to You by ... Western Environmentalists.  The Democrats came into power in 2021.  The average closing price of oil in 2020 was $39.68 a barrel; the closing price of oil in 2019 was $56.99 a barrel.  As of this writing it is $138.00 a barrel.  The extremely high price of energy — a direct result of the environmentalist policies of the Democratic Party and the liberal and Left parties in Europe — is one of the two primary reasons for the ever-increasing rate of inflation.  (The other reason is the result of another Democrat policy:  the printing of trillions of dollars.)  Serious inflation leads to very bad things.  The Nazis did not come to power because of their antisemitism or even because of the Versailles Treaty as much as they did because of the terrible inflation under the Weimar Republic.

Biden Needs a 'Pivot' to the World.  Liberal democracy has its flaws, but as the grim spectacles of the Chinese and Russian systems remind us, it has some advantages too.  Mr. Putin can impose his will on Ukraine only by atrocities that will drive home the evils of authoritarian rule to billions of people all over the planet.  Beyond this, the Biden administration is struggling to absorb other, less comfortable truths about American power.  One is that energy policy is too important to be left to climate activists.  The Biden administration, and the whole world economy, badly needs stepped-up oil and gas production to break Mr. Putin's energy weapon, but Biden policy has systematically sabotaged America's capacity to achieve it.  Whether by hampering U.S. domestic production, seeking to restrict financing to energy companies or alienating the Gulf states through its Iran and Yemen policies and its shunning and shaming of leaders like Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Team Biden has weakened crucial underpinnings of American power at a time of great need.

The Democrats' Energy Gallows.  Under uniquely bipartisan pressure, Biden is considering whether or not to cease U.S. purchase of Russian oil — estimated at 22 million gallons a day.  Political affiliation aside, his failure to do so in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine could be the final straw in the minds of the U.S. citizenry across the spectrum.  Ideologically and morally speaking, it is hard to see how the continued purchase of Russian oil won't break the back of the Democrat mule.  But it's another Biden no-win scenario.  If he shuts Putin down, prepare for even higher gas prices than what is being paid now under this administration's hapless energy policies.

White House Rejects Idea of Boosting Domestic Oil Production to Lower Gas Prices.  The White House on Sunday [3/6/2022] rejected the argument that increasing domestic oil production would help lower gas prices, as the cost of oil moves toward record highs.  Crude oil prices rose as high as $130.50 a barrel on Sunday evening.  White House press secretary Jen Psaki released a set of talking points on social media, arguing against a focus on boosting oil production in the United States.  "It's a reminder that real energy security comes from reducing our dependence on fossil fuels," Psaki wrote, noting that Russia's continued invasion of Ukraine was causing a spike in oil prices.

Just 7% of America's imported oil is Russian, so why is Biden choosing 'terrorists over Texans'?  As Russia invades Ukraine, shelling civilians and reportedly committing war crime-level brutality, President Biden has put harsh sanctions to Kremlin-tied businesses, banks and oligarchs, but not the oil and gas industry.  Both Republicans and Democrats, even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have called for the U.S. to quit doing business with Russia's oil and gas industry.  But the White House, forced to grapple with inflation at levels not seen in 40 years, cited the potential rise in costs at the pump and has so far resisted bipartisan pressure to ban Russian fuel imports.  But on Monday [3/7/2022] it was reported that the Biden administration is considering moving forward with such a ban, with or without the backing of other European leaders.

Stop Letting Environmental Groups Funded By Russia Dictate America's Energy Policy.  After spending millions to elect Biden, the environmental left got its wish:  Biden canceled America's Keystone XL pipeline, blocking the safe transport of oil from one of our closest allies and killing thousands of jobs.  At the same time, Biden removed President Trump's sanctions on the Russian NordStream2 pipeline, giving Putin the green light to move forward.  Biden canceled oil and gas leasing on 2.46 billion acres of federal on and off-shore lands, effectively crushing American energy supplies.  He unleashed his federal regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and more to hamper energy exploration, production, and transportation with new regulations. [...] Further adding to this madness is the fact that very few of Biden's punitive moves against American energy would actually help the environment.  Numerous studies have shown that pipelines have no material impact on greenhouse gas emissions since crude oil would still be extracted, and shipping it by rail or tanker instead of pipeline results in up to 42 percent higher emissions and more leaks.

Biden Plans to Get Oil From These Countries, But There's One Missing.  The price of oil has blown past $125 per barrel this morning [3/7/2022] as the Biden administration's climate change agenda continues to hamper progress on lowering costs.  Over the weekend, a number of State Department diplomats were deployed to Venezuela in hopes of pulling off sanctions on the Maduro regime in order for the U.S. to tap back into the country's oil supply. [...] Last week, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said importing oil from Iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terror, was being considered. [...] But as far as ramping up production in the United States, the administration has no plans to do so while insisting Americans must move forward with an energy "transition."

Is It Intentional or Simply Ignorance?  Among a number of things going wrong in America right now, worst of all is our totally unnecessary, self-inflicted end to energy independence.  This one is particularly frustrating because it is so unnecessary and arbitrary.  Based purely on liberal arrogance and adolescent egotism — not on well considered business factors or with the country's long-term well-being in mind — "President" Biden canceled the Keystone Pipeline as soon as he occupied the Oval Office.  This was simply a ploy to curry favor with the Green voting bloc and do something to counter President Trump.  It was the act of a shallow emotional simpleton and his behind-the-scenes puppet masters trying to look good in the eyes of the Squad and the liberal media.  It's not as if the cancelation of Keystone in and of itself ruined our energy sector.  Biden also stopped any fossil fuel exploration in ANWR, voided existing oil exploration and development leases on federal lands, and sharply curtailed the ability of existing oil and natural gas fracking companies to conduct their operations.  This has markedly reduced our supply, but far more important, it sent a message to the world oil market that any possibility of substantial new American oil was stopped dead in its tracks.

Biden looks to Venezuela for a bailout.  Joe Biden is in a bind.  Like everything else, he's blown it.  Energy prices have gone through the roof, with gasoline prices at the pump pushing $6.00 a gallon in San Diego alone.  They're expected to get higher, and each tic upward takes Joe down another notch in the polls.  Biden has throttled U.S. capacity to produce its own energy by ending domestic drilling leases on federal lands.  He's also scuppered the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada.  In place of that domestic and Canadian energy, we now buy Russian oil, some 600,000 barrels a day — which just happens to finance Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine.

Food Prices [Have Gone] Up 20% Over the Past Year.  If your grocery bills continue to frustrate you, you're not alone.  The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released its report on worldwide food prices for February, and prices hit a record high last month.  The February FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) reached a new high of 140.7 points, which reflects an increase of 3.9% over January and a whopping 20.7% over this time last year.

Until Joe Biden Lets U.S. Oil Freely Flow, He's Complicit In Putin's War.  As Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, the United States and western allies have imposed a new round of economic sanctions.  But these won't achieve the desired effect as long as there is a carve-out for Russia's energy sector.  Last week, the United States imposed sanctions on four large Russian banks and restricted certain Russian state-owned enterprises from raising money in international markets.  On Monday, the U.S., the European Union, and the United Kingdom took an extraordinary step to sanction Russia's central bank, the Bank of Russia, preventing it from moving assets it held abroad to stabilize Russia's economy, or "using other government and private banks to manage central bank operations."  Additionally, the U.S. Department of Treasury prohibited Americans from doing business with Russia's central bank, finance ministry, and Russia's sovereign wealth fund.  No country's central bank had ever been sanctioned like this before.

The West's Green Energy Delusions Empowered Putin.  How has Vladimir Putin — a man ruling a country with an economy smaller than that of Texas, with an average life expectancy 10 years lower than that of France — managed to launch an unprovoked full-scale assault on Ukraine?  There is a deep psychological, political and almost civilizational answer to that question:  He wants Ukraine to be part of Russia more than the West wants it to be free.  He is willing to risk tremendous loss of life and treasure to get it.  There are serious limits to how much the U.S. and Europe are willing to do militarily.  And Putin knows it. [...] Putin knows that Europe produces 3.6 million barrels of oil a day but uses 15 million barrels of oil a day.  Putin knows that Europe produces 230 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year but uses 560 billion cubic meters.  He knows that Europe uses 950 million tons of coal a year but produces half that.

GOP Leaders Call on Biden to Lift His Restrictions on U.S. Oil and Gas.  The Russian invasion into Ukraine is expected to have a devastating effect on the economy worldwide, especially on the energy market, where energy prices are reportedly already soaring with oil costing $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014.  "Joe Biden's reckless energy policies have already driven up the price of oil and gas over the last year," said Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) "Even he and his administration are admitting that they don't want to impose oil and gas sanctions on Russia because they are afraid it's going to add to the inflation they've already created."  Cotton had a better idea.  "How about we impose those sanctions, but we lift all those restrictions on the production of American oil and gas so we can start drilling on federal lands again and putting out new leases," the senator proposed.  "Reopen the Keystone Pipeline which would bring more oil to America every day from Canada than we import every day from Russia," he added.

Energy security, the unstable Middle East, and the wisdom of electing Donald Trump.  Back in the 1970s, the economy of the wWestern world was held up for ransom by a few relatively unstable Middle Eastern nations.  This, because they, by an act of nature, owned much of the energy upon which the modern world depends.  Since that time, we have seen several different approaches to preventing that 'ransom' situation from happening again — approaches that included President Jimmy Carter's wishful thinking that a non-petroleum-based synthetic energy source could be economically developed and manufactured, to President Barack Obama's equally 'wishful' thinking that the hateful and unstable Middle Eastern countries could be bought off and won over by simple kowtowing to them while sending them billions of dollars of American cash.  None of that worked.

Obama Brags About Low Energy Prices, Then Proposes To Raise Them.  We did, in fact, "drill our way" to lower gas prices.  Thanks to fracking, oil companies are now able to produce vast amounts of previously unrecoverable oil.  In the past seven years, domestic oil production shot up a stunning 77%, according to the Energy Information Administration, making the U.S. the biggest oil producer in the world.  That's why gas prices are low today.  And why oil imports have dropped so sharply.  And none of it had anything to do with Obama, who tried to hamper oil production whenever he could — blocking Keystone, restrictions on federal lands, EPA attempts to hinder fracking.

Mexico oil exports plunge 50.2 percent in November.  Mexico's oil exports fell 50.2 percent from a year earlier in November, a month in which the country's trade deficit totaled $1.57 billion, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, or INEGI, said.  Total exports amounted to $31.02 billion last month, down 4.1 percent from November 2014, the INEGI said in a statement Thursday [12/31/2015].  Oil exports plunged 50.2 percent to $1.57 billion, while non-petroleum exports rose 0.9 percent to $29.46 billion.

Obama Renames a Mountain while Russia Plays for Keeps in the Arctic.  Earlier in August, Russia resubmitted a claim to a huge undersea expanse of the Arctic to the U.N. Russia fields 41 icebreakers, compared to two fielded by the United States, and is building 10 search-and-rescue stations with accompanying communications infrastructure along its northern coast.  There is a lot of oil and gas under that ice, and Russia is playing for keeps.

Time to Lift the Oil Export Ban.  Today, there is only one major product the U.S. bans from export.  Surprisingly, it is a product in which the U.S. is nearly self-sufficient.  Forty years ago, it may have made sense to ban the export of oil, but the U.S. is now producing an excess of certain grades of oil.  That oil would find eager buyers overseas, spurring growth in our economy.

Saudi Arabia may go broke before the US oil industry buckles.  It is too late for OPEC to stop the shale revolution.  The cartel faces the prospect of surging US output whenever oil prices rise.

Death To Canadian Oil!.  International sanctions have, since 2011, cut Iran's oil exports in half and severely damaged its economy.  Iran, it is estimated, currently has more than 50 million barrels of oil in storage on 28 tankers at sea — part of a months[-]long build up.  It is widely reported that, due to aging infrastructure and saturated storage, it will take Iran months to bring its production back up to pre-sanction levels.  The millions of barrels of oil parked offshore are indicative of their eagerness to increase exports.

Top 10 reasons to vote Democrat.  [#9]  Vote Democrat because you believe oil company's profits of 4 percent on a gallon of gas are obscene, but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15 percent isn't.

Oil prices tumble after Greece vote, China stock market turmoil.  Oil prices suffered their biggest selloff in five months on Monday, falling as much as 8 percent as Greece's rejection of debt bailout terms and China's stock market woes set off a deepening spiral of losses.  Adding to the pressure on oil, Iran and global powers were trying to meet a July 7 deadline on a nuclear deal, which could bring more supply to the market if sanctions on Tehran are eased.  The self-imposed deadline could be extended again, officials at the negotiations said.

Q&A: Chevron CEO Talks Oil Prices And Energy Independence.  It's clear that when oil and gas fell (to $40 a barrel earlier this year), that wasn't a sustainable world price based on global supplies.  Only a few producers can make money at that price, so when the price fell to that level, marginal producers dropped out, supplies fell, and the price has risen back up to a more sustainable level.  With lower prices, some oil drilling is not economic.  The world market produces 93 million barrels a day.  All producers are taking action, and with natural declines investment slows (and) supply and demand come into better balance.

Oil Leaps on Slower U.S. Inventory Build, Iran.  Oil prices jumped over 5 percent on Monday [4/6/2015] as traders reassessed how quickly Iran might increase exports after a preliminary nuclear deal and anticipated that a months-long rise in U.S. crude inventories may be slowing.

Study: End crude oil export ban or say goodbye to U.S. shale revolution.  The explosive growth in the production of U.S. shale oil in recent years has been credited for giving the economy a much-needed boost.  But a just-released study from Bentek Energy asserts that unless the nation's crude oil export ban is lifted, the shale energy revolution will come to an abrupt end.  "We have seen so much growth in the economy due to the oil revolution that we've had in the U.S. and that growth won't be able to continue if another demand force isn't made available," said Jenna Delaney, analyst for Bentek Energy, an energy marketing and analysis company based in Denver.

World price of oil — where is OPEC now?  The world price of crude oil, which has been around 100 dollars a barrel for the past 6 years, has suddenly collapsed and is now tending below 50 dollars.  Many are trying to understand this rapid decrease and have proposed various explanations.  Of course, the ready explanation is simply in terms of supply and demand; but this just begs the question.  The supply of oil has increased sharply in recent months — mainly because of the prolific production of shale oil in the United States, thanks to the technologies of fracking and horizontal drilling.  In fact, the US is now the world's largest producer of crude oil and US imports of oil have dropped to the lowest level in 10 years.  At the same time, the demand for oil has not increased greatly — because of depressed economic conditions and more efficient use in cars and trucks throughout the world.

Oil Jumps as Saudi King's Death Spurs Speculation Over Policy.  Oil rose after the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.  Futures rallied as much as 3.1 percent in New York and 2.6 percent in London after the Saudi royal court announced the death in a statement.  Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz will succeed Abdullah on the throne.  The kingdom, the world's largest crude exporter, led OPEC's decision to maintain its oil-production quota at a meeting in November, exacerbating a global glut that's driven prices lower.

Endless Gifts From Uncle Obama.  [Scroll down]  No one knows why oil dropped so far so fast.  The supply situation — lots of new shale oil coming on stream, for months if not years.  The demand situation has not changed at all.  Saudi Arabia and OPEC declined to cut production to support a price near $100 a barrel.  But they never said they would support the price of oil.  And in any event, world oil consumption is so immense that even if the Saudis cut production by a million barrels a day, the cut would mean roughly 1 percent of demand.  So, then why did oil — facing small increases in supply and at most a slowing in demand — suddenly fall by about 55 percent?

The Ironies of Oil.  Obama once ridiculed cheap energy, which is now saving him from himself.

Did the Saudis and the US Really Collude to Smash Oil Prices?  The oil price drop that has dominated the headlines in recent weeks has been framed almost exclusively in terms of oil market economics, with most media outlets blaming Saudi Arabia, through its OPEC Trojan horse, for driving down the price, thus causing serious damage to the world's major oil exporters — most notably Russia.  While the market explanation is partially true, it is simplistic, and fails to address key geopolitical pressure points in the Middle East.

Taking Stock of the Oily Plunge.  Every major paper has carried a sober to slightly disbelievingly gleeful depiction, kitted out with solemn graphs and charts, of the precipitous plummet of oil prices since June of 2014.  The Wall Street Journal spoke of the concern of OPEC if the price should settle further below $60/barrel.  The NYT speaks to the agita experienced in Venezuela, until recently the benefactor of Cuba and other non-friends.  Nigeria and especially Russia are hurting, as in the past decades, these have been one-commodity countries.

The Personal And Economic Benefits Of Cheaper Oil.  A barrel of oil has tumbled to $83, or 22% below its June high — unambiguously good news writ large for consumers, motorists and the U.S. economy overall, and a teachable moment if there ever was one.  The U.S. imports about 3.5 billion barrels of oil a year.  So a $20 reduction in price is equal to a $70 billion tax cut.

US Is Facing International Pressure To End Its Ban On Crude Oil Exports.  Washington is facing growing international pressure to ease its long standing ban on crude oil exports, with South Korea and Mexico joining the European Union in pressing the case for U.S. oil shipments overseas.  South Korean President Park Geun-hye told a visiting U.S. delegation of lawmakers on the House of Representatives energy committee on Aug. 11 that tapping into the gusher of ultra-light, sweet crude emerging from places like Texas and North Dakota was a priority, the lawmakers said.

Flash Point: New Oil-by-Rail Rules.  The U.S. Department of Transportation proposed new regulations this month aiming to reduce the risks of shipping oil by rail.  The new rules would require the upgrading of existing rail cars (called DOT-111 cars) used to transport oil; impose speed limits on "high-hazard flammable trains" and oil-bearing trains; establish new braking practices; and mandate route-based risk-assessments.  Tank cars used to transport oil would also have to be manufactured to much tougher standards than the existing DOT-111 fleet.  No one is against safety, of course, but the new regulations pose several challenges.  First, they are going to be costly.

50 Things Barack Obama Has Done Wrong:  [#8]  After BP had a huge oil spill in the Gulf, Obama not only bungled the clean-up process, he slowed oil production from other companies that had done nothing wrong which led to higher oil prices.  [#9]  Obama has helped drive up the cost of gas by blocking the Keystone Pipeline.

Venezuela blames U.S for global oil price slump.  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday [10/16/2014] blamed Washington for the slump in global oil prices.  Washington is "flooding" the market with cheaper shale oil to bring down prices and ultimately impact Russia and other oil-producing nations, Maduro said at a televised Cabinet meeting.

Fracking Foes Cringe as Unions Back Drilling Boom.  After early complaints that out-of-state firms got the most jobs, some local construction trade workers and union members in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia say they're now benefiting in a big way from the Marcellus and Utica Shale oil and gas boom.

Has Putin Ended the Green Movement in Europe?  Wind farms do not have the capacity of keeping the central heating thermostat at a sensible level, leaving Putin's new Cold War seeming literal as well as metaphorical.  The EU in 2013 prepared an "Association Agreement" with the Ukraine with a view to granting them membership to the EU.  Putin's response to this cozying up was the de facto annexation of the Crimea.  The first energy casualty is the South Stream project, a gas pipe line under construction connecting Russian gas to the EU.

Feds give initial approval for Oregon facility to export natural gas.  Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for weeks have been pressing the Obama administration to expedite permits for natural gas exports, claiming it would send a powerful message to European allies, and Russia, which last week annexed the Crimean Peninsula.  Even if immediate changes might not do much to help Ukraine and other Eastern European nations in the short term, advocates argue they would send a message that Russia's energy grip on the region will eventually weaken.

Environmental groups tell Obama natural gas exports undermine climate goals.  Environmental groups fired a shot Tuesday [3/18/2014] in the growing discussion about natural gas exports as they urged President Obama to block new export terminals on climate change grounds.  The flashpoint is a $3.8 billion Dominion Resources-proposed export facility in Cove Point, Md., on the Chesapeake Bay, which the groups are rallying to prevent as a burgeoning effort to prohibit exports of fossil fuels. [...] Republicans, with some Democrats, are pushing the Obama administration to expedite export approvals as a means to reduce Russia's grip on energy supplies in Central and Eastern Europe, a position it uses to wield political influence.

How the Greens Help Putin in Crimea Incursion.  The Russian economy is highly dependent on oil and gas exports, and reducing Russian oil and gas exports would be the most direct way to cause pain to the Russian leadership.  However, Europe is heavily dependent on Russian gas and oil, particularly gas.  Six European Union countries — Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria — are 100 percent dependent on Russian gas.  Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia and Greece depend on the Russians for more than 50 percent of their gas.  The countries in the EU did not need to be in this position, because the EU has plenty of gas reserves that could be economically tapped using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.  Because of the environmental lobby, though, the EU has allowed itself to become dependent on foreign energy sources — particularly Russian.

Unleash American Energy.  House Republicans have a worthy suggestion to protect Ukraine and increase the West's leverage there:  Deregulate American energy production and encourage oil and gas exports.  The Department of Energy has been reluctant and slow to approve permits for shipping natural gas overseas, for instance, which the market demands from the U.S. for the first time.  Crude-oil exports remain illegal.  Energy production on federally owned lands has been dropping.

US energy security threatened by prairie chicken and sage grouse.  The Obama administration seems hell-bent on sabotaging domestic energy production, one way or another.

Rand Paul: U.S. Anti-Energy Policies Empower Russian Aggression.  The Obama administration's anti-energy policies empower Russia aggression and take away America's ability to respond, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) explained in a Time magazine editorial.  Paul said America has all the means to deter and punish Russian military aggression without the use of American military force but the Obama administration has taken important economic weapons off the table with its anti-energy policies.

Fracking is turning the US into a bigger oil producer than Saudi Arabia.  The expansion in volumes of oil and gas produced by hydraulic fracturing is taking experts and politicians by surprise, with profound consequences for US geopolitics, and even Europe's reliance on Russian gas.

Job Destroyer.  Does the president have a clue about what creates jobs and what kills jobs?  Based on the evidence from his five years as president, the answer is no, he doesn't. [...] His environmental policies are relentless job killers.  The crackdown on the coal industry has come at the cost of tens of thousands of jobs.  Approval of the Keystone pipeline would lead to thousands of new jobs, but Obama has balked.  So too would the opening of federal lands to natural gas production, just as it has on private lands.

The Editor says...
The writer of the article immediately above seems to presume that Mr. Obama's destruction of the economy is merely the result of his hapless incompetence — ignoring the very real possibility that Obama's actions and their results are intentional and malicious.  Mr. Obama probably knows very well "what creates jobs and what kills jobs," and is doing the opposite, because his goal is to increase and perpetuate dependence on Big Brother.

Rail cars used to ship oil are 'unacceptable public risk,' NTSB official says.  Rail tank cars being used to ship crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken region are an "unacceptable public risk," and even cars voluntarily upgraded by the industry may not be sufficient, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday [2/26/2014].

Moving Crude by Railcar Stalls on the Track.  Companies that thought they had found a relatively easy way to move crude from the booming oil fields of North Dakota to the West Coast are encountering obstacles.  Half a dozen companies are trying to build rail terminals on the coast of Washington state to receive trainloads of crude from the Bakken field in North Dakota.

Podesta: Climate game changer.  Environmental groups believe John Podesta will be a force for change on climate issues at the White House. [...] Three key areas Podesta and the climate team will work on are Environmental Protection Agency rules on existing power plants, developing a comprehensive methane strategy and developing new fuel economy standards for heavy-duty vehicles.  While Podesta's full portfolio won't be known until he arrives next year, an administration official said he'll probably spend time working with the Department of the Interior on its regulatory policies.  That's likely to include administration decisions about how to lease out federal lands and which energy development and mining projects to permit.

Fracking boom frees the US from old oil alliances.  [Scroll down]  Saudi Arabia has increased production to match, keeping prices stable, but new fields being developed in neighbouring Iraq and the rise in importance of gas have also made its role less vital.  And now all that Iranian oil may sooner rather than later end up back on the market.  Some suggest Saudi Arabia might cut its production, hiking world prices, as a retaliatory action.  But even were it to do so — and it has given no indication of it — it might itself be the worst victim.  Saudi has some slack to reduce its own income from oil and keep its budget in the black, but not so much.

The Coming Oil Wars.  Accidental wars only happen in the movies.  What's happening now in the East China Sea is a calculated Chinese provocation that could lead to war. [...] War for oil isn't new.  When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, its principal grievance was the American decision to cut off most of its oil supply.

Interior chief Sally Jewell says Obama will go around Congress on national monuments.  Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell vowed that President Obama would use executive authority to create more national monuments to protect lands if Congress doesn't pass legislation to do so.  "If Congress doesn't step up to act," Jewell said during a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, "then the president will take action." [...] Congress hasn't approved a new national monument or park since 2010, with Republicans charging that the White House is keeping too much federal land off limits to oil and gas development.

Interior Secretary: Obama Will Use Executive Powers to Conserve Lands.  President Barack Obama will use his executive powers to protect more mountains, rivers and forests from development if Congress does not act to preserve such wild spaces, the U.S. Interior Secretary said on Thursday [10/31/2013].

The Editor says...
Mr. Obama couldn't care less about wide open spaces, camping and hiking in the wilderness, or expanding national parks.  His goal is to choke off the supply of domestic oil and cripple the U.S. economy.

Obama orders government to prepare for impact of global warming.  President Obama issued an executive order Friday [11/1/2013] directing a government-wide effort to boost preparation in states and local communities for the impact of global warming.  The action orders federal agencies to work with states to build "resilience" against major storms and other weather extremes.  For example, the president's order directs that infrastructure projects like bridges and flood control take into consideration climate conditions of the future, which might require building structures larger or stronger — and likely at a higher price tag.

The Editor says...
By now it should be obvious:  Obama's goal is to make everything more expensive.  Electricity, gasoline, medical insurance, and, as we see here, everything else.  In order to justify preparations for the "impact of global warming," Mr. Obama would have to prove that there is (or will be) any global warming, and prove that one or two degrees of warming would be hazardous.  Neither he nor anyone else will never accomplish such a goal.  As usual, Mr. Obama is meddling in everybody's business for no reason except to impede capitalism.

Using 'Sue and Settle' to Thwart Oil and Gas Drillers.  Last week the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and an environmental advocacy group agreed to a legal settlement that will place nine species — including the Panama City crayfish, moccasinshell mussel and boreal toad — on the fast track for placement on the endangered species list.  It is only the latest of many such listings.  The Center for Biological Diversity has petitioned Fish and Wildlife to designate some 250 species as endangered since 2008.  Many of CBD's petitions — and lawsuits — are still in the pipeline.  About 97% of the species that are designated as endangered never move off the list.

Rich, Arrogant, and Stupid.  [Scroll down]  We have put off-limits huge supplies of oil and natural gas — a trillion barrels by some estimates — everywhere from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico.  The only development going on is on private lands in states that, unlike California, do not put up punitive regulatory barriers to exploration and exploitation.  Obama has intensified this bizarre behavior.  He has blocked the Keystone pipeline, and his federal Bureau of Land Management has just reduced by two-thirds the 1.3 million acres George Bush set aside for development in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.

American energy booming despite Obama's policies.  Oil, natural gas and coal production in this country are at record levels.  But this is despite Obama's policies, not, as he implied, because of them.  Oil, natural gas and coal production are zooming upwards on private land, but plummeting on government lands.

Calling it Treason.  We could have walked away from the Middle East already and left them to their own savagery, but the president insists that we remain inextricably tied to their historical need to kill each other so that we can overpay for oil, both monetarily and with American lives.  Thus, as technology enables us to break free of dependence upon Middle East oil, our president bends over backwards to ensure that never happens.

Obama administration cuts back oil shale development.  Controversy is heating up over an administration plan to drastically reduce the amount of federal lands available for oil shale development in the American West.  The Bush administration had set aside 1.3 million acres for oil shale and tar sands development in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.  The new Bureau of Land Management plan cuts that amount by two-thirds, down to 700,000 acres, a decision that has prompted industry outrage.

Green groups to Obama: Designate lands to stop drilling.  Environmental lobbyists are pressing President Obama to turn more western lands into national monuments to prevent oil-and-gas companies from drilling there.  The Sierra Club is leading the charge and is sweetening its message with political sugar, saying Obama could thereby help Democrats win House and Senate seats in midterm elections year.

President Obama steals credit for energy success he opposed.  President Obama may be the first chief executive to take credit for the results of things he has opposed throughout his time in the Oval Office.  The latest example came last week, when the Department of the Interior announced it had approved 21 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for energy resource exploration and development.

Production Obstruction.  Delays in federal permitting for oil and gas exploration on public land is likely reducing national energy production and depriving the federal government of revenue, according to a federal report released Friday [3/22/2013].  The report is the latest addition to a mounting body of evidence undercutting the administration's claims that it has fostered increased oil and gas production, critics say.  Production on lands the federal government controls has plummeted during Barack Obama's presidency.

Obama's War On Drilling: Oil Surplus, Not Scarcity, Is The New Regulatory Excuse.  Regardless of abundance and necessity, the Obama administration continues to justify new regulations that restrict access to America's oil and gas reserves.

Domestic Oil Production At Record Level Despite Obama.  Earlier this month oil output hit its highest level in the U.S. since the summer of 1992.  That's good, but it could be better.  The Obama administration won't get out of the way.

China Deal Benefits Obama Donors.  The government watchdog group Judicial Watch is suing the Treasury Department for records pertaining to the department's decision to grant a Chinese government-backed company access to oil deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, a move that will benefit Obama donors.  The Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) reached a "definitive agreement" with Nexen, Inc., a Canadian energy company, announced on July 23, 2012, to buy all of the company's outstanding public shares.

US clears big Chinese oil deal.  United States officials have signed off on Chinese oil giant CNOOC's $15.1 billion purchase of the Canadian oil company Nexen, a deal that triggered U.S. review because Nexen has oil-and-gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico.  Nexen announced Tuesday [2/12/2013] that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has approved the transaction, and that the deal "now has all of the requisite approvals to proceed to close."  CFIUS is a Treasury Department-led interagency panel that reviews foreign purchases of U.S. assets if the transactions could affect national security.

Obama's path toward energy poverty.  [I]nstead of promoting the most reliable and least expensive energy technologies, such as coal-fired electricity generation, Mr. Obama encourages the least reliable and most expensive sources.  It was certainly an understatement to say, as he did in the address, "The path toward sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult."  He should have added, "and virtually useless," because the sustainable energy sources he has most in mind are wind and solar power.  The president presents the transition to these technologies as an economic benefit.  He asserted, "We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries — we must claim its promise.  That is how we will maintain our economic vitality."  No, that is how you ruin a country's economy.

Energy cash influx leads to a state surplus in Texas.  An inbound crush of revenue, private sector productivity, job creation, economic growth — this is everything we are giving up while the Obama administration has tried to forcefully mold the energy economy of their greenest political fancies by delaying on drilling leases for federal lands and waters, flexing their regulatory muscles and waging a war on coal, "investing" our money in their pet projects, and bandying around with potential new regulations to crack down further on hydraulic fracturing.

Robber Barony: Obama Energy Policy By Another Name.  It is time for more Americans to learn about the real energy boom that the Obama Administration is trying to keep under wraps in major and countless minor ways.

The North American Gusher.  Since becoming president, Mr. Obama has treated hydrocarbon production like an infectious disease to be eradicated.  His administration had to commission a study to learn, as announced last week, that allowing American companies to export liquefied natural gas would be beneficial to the U.S. economy.  Still, the Department of Energy says it can't make "final determinations" on export applications until it hears from those who object.

Harsher energy regulations seen in Obama's second term.  Energy producers braced for tighter regulation in President Barack Obama's second term, with coal companies expecting more emissions restrictions and drillers anticipating less access to federal land even as his platform promotes energy independence.

U.S. To 'Become Largest Global Oil Producer' By 2020, 'Net Oil Exporter' By 2030 — If We Let It.  In a striking blow for the environmental left, the International Energy Agency has released a report detailing how the United States is on track to outpace Saudi Arabia in oil production.  This surely puts the Obama administration in a bind concerning its green energy monomania that has dominated their energy policy for the past four years.  This finding shows that the United States can be energy independent, and we have the resources to do so.  However, the boot of government is trying to centralize and control those resources to expand their dependency agenda.

Our Incoherent Energy Policies.  The price of gasoline hit $4.80/gallon in California just a few weeks ago.  And yet near four years into this Administration, we are still without a coherent policy to access our vast reservoirs of oil and gas offshore, on federal lands and Alaska.

With Election Over, the News Flows Freely.  We heard throughout the campaign of President Obama's "all of the above" energy policy.  That was then.  This is now.  About 48 hours after he was assured of reelection, the president's Interior Department issued a plan to close to oil shale development 1.6 million acres of federal land in the West to oil.  These acres were targeted for oil shale exploration and development by the prior administration.  Instead, only some 677,000 acres would be open for oil shale exploration, and an additional 130,000 for tar sands production.  The reason for excluding so much acreage from development includes a desire to protect sage grouse habitats and land with "wilderness characteristics."

The Editor says...
Personally, I couldn't care less about the sage grouse, and something tells me that when gasoline is $5.00 a gallon and constantly climbing, nobody else will care, either.

Democrats Better Start Soul Searching.  We can't know quite what a second Obama term will bring, but if his first term is an indication, there's little reason to expect his party will be crowing. [...] On Friday [11/9/2012], citing ecological concerns, the administration closed off 1.6 million acres of federal land in western states from planned oil shale extraction.  An American energy boom lies in wait underground and Obama is determined to keep it there.

The U.S. will be the world's leading energy producer, if we allow it.  As readers of these pages know, the key to this U.S. energy boom has been technological innovation and risk-taking funded by private capital.  Specifically, the private oil and gas industry pioneered the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) to tap unconventional deposits such as shale that once were technologically out of reach.  It also wouldn't have happened if the industry wasn't able to drill on private land, free from federal regulation.  This is a real energy revolution, even if it's far from the renewable energy dreamland of so many government subsidies and mandates.

Barack H. Obama is doing everything he can to prevent this:
U.S. Oil Output to Overtake Saudi Arabia's by 2020.  U.S. oil output is poised to surpass Saudi Arabia's in the next decade, making the world's biggest fuel consumer almost self-reliant and putting it on track to become a net exporter, the International Energy Agency said.  Growing supplies of crude extracted through new technology including hydraulic fracturing of underground rock formations will transform the U.S. into the largest producer for about five years starting about 2020, the Paris-based adviser to 28 nations said today [11/12/2012] in its annual World Energy Outlook.

Obama Shuts Down 1.6M Acres to Oil Shale Development.  Just two days after President Obama's re-election, the Obama Interior Department announced a plan to shut down 1.6 million acres of federal land to oil shale development.  The land had originally been slated for drilling under President George W. Bush.

The Editor says...
This puts us one step closer to $5.00 gasoline.  Thanks a lot, Obama voters!

Interior proposal would limit commercial oil shale development on federal lands in West.  The Interior Department on Friday [11/9/2012] issued a final plan to close 1.6 million acres of federal land in the West originally slated for oil shale development.  The proposed plan would fence off a majority of the initial blueprint laid out in the final days of the George W. Bush administration.

Obama Is Right.  Every other month, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar withdraws more land from potential energy development.  Most recently, he put nearly half of the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve on Alaska's North Slope off-limits, restricting development to 12 million acres with potentially 549 million barrels of oil.  In 2002, the Reserve, designated almost a century ago by Congress for energy development, was thought to hold 9 billion barrels of oil.  Mysteriously, in 2010, this estimate was reduced to 900 million barrels.  People notice when you pull billions of barrels of oil from potential production.  Change the story by redefining the estimate, and the news item goes from page 1 to page 19 when the administration puts America's resources off-limits.

Gas Prices Doubled, Obama Locks Up National Reserve.  As the administration fast-tracks solar projects on public lands, it has locked up more than half of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, preferring to continue outsourcing energy jobs and dollars.

Obama's Alaska Oil Debacle Is a 'None of the Above' Energy Policy.  The Obama administration's decision to block oil drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) is the latest symbol of an energy policy that could be described as "none of the above."  It is an even worse decision when you consider the recent history of the Reserve, which was partially opened to oil and gas drilling and exploration by the Clinton administration in the late 1990s.

DOE delays decision on natural-gas export license.  The Obama administration punted a decision on whether to prevent a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export license, saying it needs more time to review a complaint that an environmental assessment for the plan did not go far enough.  The Department of Energy (DOE) said it needs to review a complaint regarding a conditional permit granted to Cheniere Energy.  That permit would let the firm export LNG to countries without free-trade agreements from its Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana.

The Editor says...
What does the Department of Energy do to facilitate the production of energy?  The DOE doesn't produce energy — it reluctantly issues permits to energy producing companies.  In other words, the United State would have far more energy available if the DOE were abolished.

Obama's slippery foreign oil promise.  It was one of President Barack Obama's boldest 2008 campaign promises:  Getting the United States off oil from anti-U.S. hot spots within a decade.  That didn't happen.  Persian Gulf oil imports are down only 5 percent, while the U.S. remains Venezuela's biggest oil-trading partner since Obama said changing that relationship was crucial "for the sake of our economy, our security and the future of our planet."

Obama's Great Alaska Shutout.  President Obama is campaigning as a champion of the oil and gas boom he's had nothing to do with, and even as his regulators try to stifle it.  The latest example is the Interior Department's little-noticed August decision to close off from drilling nearly half of the 23.5 million acre National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.  The area is called the National Petroleum Reserve because in 1976 Congress designated it as a strategic oil and natural gas stockpile to meet the "energy needs of the nation."  Alaska favors exploration in nearly the entire reserve.

Obama Proclaims October 'Energy Action Month' Despite Rejecting Pipeline, Threats To Natural Gas And Coal Industries.  "I call upon the citizens of the United States to recognize this month by working together to achieve greater energy security, a more robust economy, and a healthier environment for our children," Obama declared.  Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, took exception to Pres. Obama's proclamation of National Energy Action Month, saying "Every month should be national energy month."

Where's Our Energy?  When President Barack Obama took office, the average price for a gallon of regular gas was $1.84.  That means gas prices have more than doubled on Obama's watch.  But why?  The primary reason is that the system is rigged. [...] Another reason Americans are getting hosed at the pump is that President Obama loathes the fossil fuel industry and does everything he can to inhibit production.

Are Democrats More Likely to Release Strategic Oil Reserves?  In contrast to last year's release, the International Energy Agency disagreed with the need this time, stating "There is no reason for a release" and "The market is sufficiently supplied."  I think the Obama Administration is signaling that they may release some oil for two reasons.  One is to spook the markets and cause a sell-off of oil, with the hope of lowering gasoline prices.  The other is to test the reaction from the American public and from U.S. allies so they can better judge the political risks of such a blatant attempt to manipulate prices heading into the election.

Obama's New America.  Mr. Obama made much of the truth that the USA is producing a lot more energy from oil and gas domestically now compared with some years ago.  But he gives no credit at all to the oil companies and the gas companies that made that possible.

Manufacturer: EPA against all fossil fuels, not just coal.  "I firmly believe that this administration, including the EPA, has a very, very robust, anti-fossil fuels agenda," [Charlie] Drevna said in a telephone interview.  "You guys in West Virginia should know this as well as anybody else.  What is this administration trying to do with coal?  Well, they're trying to do the same with oil and other fossil fuels.  It's just an anti-fossil fuels agenda.  One can argue whether it's noble or not.  I don't think it is.  Is it detrimental to the consumers?  Is it detrimental to the economy and national security?  Absolutely."  Consumers stand to lose dramatically, whether they are driving a pickup truck or a passenger car, mowing the lawn or steering a motorboat, he said.

Romney Plan Would Make America An Energy Superpower.  Mitt Romney has unveiled a market-based plan to achieve U.S. energy independence by 2020 and make America an energy superpower.  It calls to mind just how stagnant our energy policy has been up until now.

Romney energy plan would put states in control of drilling.  An energy plan Mitt Romney unveiled Thursday [8/23/2012] adopts familiar GOP ideas for weaning the United States off foreign oil by boosting offshore drilling and relaxing environmental regulations.  Although both President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger view energy development as a way to rev up the economy and create jobs, Romney focuses on the oil and gas sector.

Eating America's Seed Corn.  As gas prices climb back toward $4 a gallon, the Obama administration — facing a tough reelection campaign and rising Middle East tensions — is once again considering tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  For years, administrations have bought and stored oil for emergencies, in fear of a cutoff of imported oil, as happened during the Arab embargo of 1973-74.  But since 2009, the U.S. government has declared most federal lands off-limits to new oil and gas exploration — despite vast recent finds of energy and radically new means to tap it.

Once again, the  strategic  political oil reserves come into play.
Report: Obama may release oil reserves.  President Obama will consider releasing oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve if increased sanctions on Iran cause costs to rise, according to a report on Friday [8/17/2012].  Officials have a plan ready if gasoline prices do not fall after Sept. 3, according to Reuters.  Historically, gas prices drop after the Labor Day holiday.

Offshore Drilling: Increase Access, Reduce the Risk, and Stop Hurting American Companies.  The Obama Administration remains committed to strangling America's economic revival by doing everything in its power to prevent companies that obtain offshore leases from actually drilling and producing oil — a fact evidenced by a new lawsuit just filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims by an independent U.S. oil and gas company.

7 Things to Expect If Obama Is Elected to a Second Term.  [#3]  Gas and energy prices will be dramatically higher:  Obama once said, "Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."  His Energy Secretary Steven Chu added, "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe."  Is it any wonder that Obama won't drill ANWR, has blocked the Keystone Pipeline, and has slow-walked offshore drilling?

After Blocking Oil Drilling, Obama Now Posing in Front of Oil Wells.  I guess posing in front of a shuttered Solyndra factory isn't part of his campaign.  Seriously, can it get any more pathetic than this?

The Mother of All Hoaxes.  The U.S. is floating on an ocean of oil, but for now it can only be extracted from lands owned privately because the Obama administration has done everything in its power to restrict access to it on federally owned lands and, of course, the billions of barrels locked up off-shore.  In exactly the same way that the Obama administration has presided over the loss of billions in subsidies and loan guarantees for the solar panel companies or the ridiculous costs of wind power industry compared to a single coal-burning plant, at the heart of it all has been the claim the global warming is caused by "greenhouse gas" emissions, carbon dioxide, that imperil the Earth.

Interior Department opening up more federal land... for solar panels.  Forget about the leasing for oil, gas, and mineral drilling that would allow the energy market to produce the jobs and economic growth it is absolutely chomping at the bit to create — let's prioritize our administrative resources and land use for an industry that has demonstrated itself barely capable of competing on the global market despite heavy assistance from taxpayers.  Yeah, that's a great plan.

Caught in a green crossfire.  President Obama has waged war on fossil fuels for three and a half years — and American consumers and families are caught in the green energy crossfire.  They are getting hit with higher energy prices, dismal employment prospects and a floundering economy, as billions go to unfriendly overseas countries for oil we could produce in the USA, and billions of tax dollars are wasted on subsidy schemes designed to make "green" energy more competitive — by raising the cost of electricity and fossil fuels that really power our economy.  Even worse, his policies are actively killing jobs and preventing job creation:  in the oil patch, coal country, and hundreds of industries whose survival depends on reliable, affordable energy.

Utah Officials Decry Obama Administration's Oil Production Restrictions.  State government officials in Utah are calling on the Obama administration to reverse its policy of curtailing oil and natural gas production on federal lands in western states.  Utah officials say Obama's policies are killing jobs and stifling the state's economy.

EPA Proposes Stricter New Standards for Soot Pollution.  Adding to the Obama administration's mounting heap of regulations, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed Friday [6/15/2012] new air quality standards to curb the purportedly fatal repercussions of soot emissions.  In reducing the emission of such particles, which environmentalists say are one of the most hazardous air pollutants, oil refiners and large manufacturers will be forced to invest in costly pollution-reduction upgrades.

Obama's war on guns and oil.  The Obama administration is using more than just the Environmental Protection Agency to "crucify" businesses it doesn't like.  Congress won't enact any gun-control measures, and the American people aren't interested in paying more at the pump.  So President Obama has to get a lot more creative in pushing his anti-gun, anti-affordable-energy agenda.  His latest technique is dispatching the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to wage small-scale battles against guns and oil. [...] It's obvious what the White House is up to, and the American people shouldn't stand for it.

Big Enviro Push Coming to End All Coal, Oil, Gas Subsidies.  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) will announce legislation today to end every last subsidy for oil, coal and natural gas production.  "The measure would do away with tax breaks, financial assistance, royalty relief, direct federal research and development and many loopholes that benefit the fossil fuel industry," Sanders' office said.

Real Hope for Ending Federal Debt.  [Scroll down]  Of course, tapping the United States' natural resources is the opposite of what Obama is doing.  Oil and gas production on federal lands has dropped by 40% under the dreary marriage of environmentalism, puerile elitism, and Marxism which is Obamanomics.  What is true of oil is also true of coal.

Obama Stalls U.S. Energy Independence, Enemies Smile.  Do America's enemies wish us well?  It's an important question because they've made a big push to halt U.S. energy production.  So why does the Obama administration's policies support their aims?

North Dakota Oil Boom Should Inspire Federal Energy Policy.  North Dakota's per-capita income jumped 78% in the past 12 years, largely due to its fossil fuel boom.  Imagine the impact at the national level if Washington stopped blocking energy development.

Obama Wants Power, Not Jobs.  Natural gas is a feedstock for the production of fertilizer, plastics, and many chemical products.  Fortunately, America possesses vast reserves of recoverable natural gas.  The low price of this gas is one factor spurring companies like Dow Chemical to expand production in the United States rather than send jobs overseas. [...] It all sounds like an economic miracle, and it is.  So why is Obama trying to kill it?

Russia Hires Exxon Mobil to Get Oil Obama Doesn't Want.  Alaska contains a wealth of oil both on land, in ANWR, and off shore in its outer continental shelf.  But President Obama and the Democrat party are staunchly opposed to allowing us to avail ourselves of it.  And via the Keystone Pipeline, Canada could supply nearly 1,000,000 barrels of oil a day that we're not getting from Alaska, but Obama and the Democrats have stopped that too.

Obama Administration's Energy Policy A Boon To Petrotyrants.  Wittingly or not, President Obama has contributed to high oil prices by stymieing U.S. production.  But if that's the idea, it makes sense to secure energy abroad.  He hasn't.  In fact, Obama's stated policy, in his March 30, 2011, energy speech has been a crude central planner's diktat of reducing oil imports by a third over the next 10 years and replacing them with increased production of biofuels and other unproven "green" energies yet to be developed.

Your Energy Vote — Scarcity or Abundance.  With our Presidential candidates clear, there's no better issue to contrast our choice than energy policy. [...] Natural gas in America has decreased in cost because of the dramatic expansion in supply.  The same could be done with oil.

Obama's Crackdown On Speculators Won't Cut Prices.  President Obama's promised "crackdown" on speculators is another example of his using government to strangle markets and increase control over the private economy.  Worse, it won't cut gas prices one bit.

Our president goes on a wild goose chase against "speculators."
Obama's Snipe Hunt.  Watching President Obama stumble through his energy crisis, it seems only a question of whether he will end up channeling Jimmy Carter or President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina.  The latter, in case you missed it, just announced that her government will be seizing a 51 percent interest in YPF, the Argentine subsidiary of Repsol, the Spanish conglomerate that is the 15th largest refiner in the world.  In most places, that would be called theft, but in the banana republic of Argentina it's just business as usual.

Five Ways that Barack Obama has Decimated the American Economy.  Our economy runs on coal, natural gas, nuclear power and most importantly, oil.  By refusing to drill ANWR, blocking the Keystone Pipeline, fighting offshore drilling, slow walking drilling on federal land, trashing fracking, and attacking oil companies on a regular basis, the Obama Administration has driven up the cost of oil.  Not only does this take money out of the pocket of consumers, it increases the cost of just about everything in the economy via higher shipping costs.

Democrats' dumbest new energy idea.  For scurrilous attacks on the oil and gas industry, few liberals in Congress can hold a candle to Rep. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts.  Several weeks ago, Mr. Markey, who is the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, filed a bill that would require bidders for oil and gas leases on federal lands to certify that all production from such leases would be offered for sale only in the United States. [...] The congressman obviously doesn't understand how energy markets work.

The case of President Obama's missing oil tax.  Candidate Barack Obama pushed it hard in 2008:  a tax on Big Oil company profits that would flow back to families in $1,000 rebate checks.  President Barack Obama acts as if the idea never existed.

BrightSource and the Fracking Task Force.  Bad stuff always happens on Friday the 13th.  So it was on Friday [4/13/2012] that BrightSource Energy, the large solar energy company that has already received $868 million of a $1.6-billion loan guarantee, canceled its IPO application.  And that same day, President Obama appointed Heather Zichal to head a new high-level task force to coordinate regulation of hydraulic fracking.  The two events, both highly inauspicious, were not unrelated.  The connection is simple and obvious:  in order to prop up failing solar companies, Obama needs to force natural gas prices higher.

What Happened To Our Cheap Oil?  It didn't disappear.  It's still here. [...] There hasn't been an oil refinery built in the U.S. since 1976, ironically the same year that Jimmy Carter was elected.  He was responsible for the creation of the Department of Energy and the enabling legislation was passed and signed into law on August 4, 1977.  Hundreds of billion dollars later with a budget of $24.2 billion a year, 16,000 federal employees and approximately 10,000 contract employees, we are no closer to being independent of foreign oil.

Sticker shock at the pump.  The president wants to raise taxes on oil companies by about $40 billion over 10 years.  Senate Democrats were more modest, limiting the tax hike to just the biggest companies for about $26 billion over 10 years.  Even if Democrats were interested in using the new revenue to reduce the deficit, this tax would barely cover five hours of government spending a year.  Instead, their bill used the majority of the money to increase the subsidies to their political allies in the intermittent energy business, making this a mere redistribution of corporate wealth.

Obama: End Tax Breaks For Oil In Order To "Double Down" On Wind And Solar.  [Quoting President Obama in the Rose Garden on Thursday 3/29/2012:]  "Instead of taxpayer giveaways to an industry that's never been more profitable, we should be using that money to double down on investments in clean energy technologies that have never been more promising."

Critics hit Obama's energy move.  Over the weekend during a brief refueling stop in Alaska on the way to the nuclear summit in Seoul, Mr. Obama issued a release inviting industry input on an oil and gas lease sale in Alaska's Cook Inlet. ... But the Cook Inlet, off the coast of South-Central Alaska is the oldest oil field in the state, dating back to the early 1960s, and industry organizations are ridiculing the move as an attempt to try to dress up an old leasing area the industry has had little to no interest in drilling in for years.

The Old Democrat Party: FDR Expanded US Domestic Oil Production.  In spite of the Obama Administration, a rag tag assortment of small "wildcat" oil and gas entrepreneurs have proven that America has over 100 years' supply of natural gas and over 50 years' supply of oil.  With Obama's green initiatives in tatters, his new strategy seems to be taking credit for drill, baby, drill achievements, but remains fearful of the political consequences to build the pipelines to pump, baby, pump all that oil and gas to markets.

Faith-Based Energy Policy.  Americans remember that [President Obama's] team boasted about wanting higher energy costs in 2008, when Obama was still basking in hope-and-change adulation.  Energy Secretary-designate Steven Chu, who doesn't own a car, pontificated about wanting higher American gasoline prices, hoping they would somehow reach European levels.  Candidate Obama breezily warned of skyrocketing energy prices — the necessary cost of his planned cap-and-trade, anti-global-warming legislation.  Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, who was soon to become interior secretary, bragged that even if gas reached $10 a gallon, he would not vote to open up new federal offshore oil leases.

Flashback to 2009: Administration Policies Sought to Discourage 'Overproduction' of Oil.  In May 2009, four months into the Obama presidency, retail gasoline prices averaged $2.32 per gallon.  Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) wrote Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to express concern about the impact that the Administration's budgeted changes in tax policy would have on the oil and gas industry. ... In just three years' time, retail gasoline prices are up 68%.  $4.00+ gasoline prices loom as a key reelection vulnerability for the President; in response, the Administration's rhetoric has shifted to "energy friendly", but its original energy-hostile policies have not changed a whit.

Republicans go on offensive over rumors about tapping oil reserves.  Republicans launched a preemptive strike last week against rumored plans by the White House to tap the country's emergency oil reserves.  Releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a 696-million-barrel stockpile stored on the Gulf Coast, is a ploy to score political points amid gas prices that are nearing a national average of $4 per gallon, Republicans argued.

Tapping Petroleum Reserve has gotten trickier.  Moving to tap the four giant Gulf Coast salt caverns that hold 700 million barrels of government-owned crude would still almost certainly knock global oil futures lower, delivering some relief at the pump for motorists and helping Obama in the November election if he can prevent gasoline from rising above $4 a gallon nationwide.  On Thursday [3/15/2012], prices fell by as much as $3 a barrel after Reuters reported that Britain was set to agree to release stockpiles together with the United States later this year.

Obama's Oil Speculation Task Force Should Look Into Obama.  Pres. Obama says he wants Attorney General Eric Holder to "pay attention to potential speculation in the oil markets," so he's calling the DOJ's speculation task force to action. ... But, Obama's stubborn refusal to approve the Keystone oil pipeline project or oil drilling permits is one of the things they're speculating about when they drive up the cost of oil.

Senate rejects drilling for oil in Arctic refuge.  The U.S. Senate on Tuesday [3/13/2012] resoundingly rejected a sweeping measure to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other protected areas to drilling as well as approve construction of the Keystone pipeline project.  The vote was the first time in four years the Senate has voted on a measure including ANWR drilling, and it failed miserably.

Obama's Energy Lies.  President Obama is spewing lies and distortions on America's energy capabilities, and attempting to paint political opponents as medieval.  The president's agenda is anti-American and anti-progress.  It's driven by a statist ideology.  Frankly, the country's not likely to expand domestic supply and reduce foreign dependence while the Democrats are in power.

Fossil Fuel Production on Federal Lands at a Nine-Year Low.  What can the president do about gas prices?  Stop shutting down energy production on federal land.

Oil and Gasoline Prices.  Actual oil prices are unknown to most Americans. ... A few of us know that the price of U.S. crude oil is always cheaper than the price of foreign OPEC crude oil.  Some of us know that because we have followed "World Crude Oil Prices" on the website of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy for years.  On November 11, 2011, the EIA shut down the World Crude Oil Prices website.  EIA did not even leave up the valuable historic data on the website.  The Obama administration has hidden actual oil prices from the public.  That should be a scandal.

The best way for government to reduce oil dependence? Do nothing.  [Scroll down]  After the oil shocks of the 1970s, the United States succeeded in reducing its use of oil.  As late as 1995, the United States was using no more oil than it had used in 1978.  Not its use per person, or use per vehicle, but its use, period.  This progress was not accomplished by reinventing the internal combustion engine.  It was accomplished by (1) shifting homes from oil to gas heat; (2) ending the burning of heavy oil by electrical utilities; and (3) shifting freight traffic from trucks to trains.  No government official planned these changes.  They just happened, in response to market forces.  Result:  Even as Americans put more cars on the road — and drove further in them — they successfully decreased their oil reliance.
[Emphasis added.]

Sen. Reid raises possible FTC probe of gasoline.  Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid on Tuesday [2/28/2012] said he hoped the Federal Trade Commission would look into rising domestic gasoline prices, noting "rampant speculation" in oil markets.

The Editor says...
The market exists to allow investors to speculate.  The Senator might as well launch an investigation into rampant shopping at the supermarket.

Tell America the whole truth about gas prices, Mr. President.  [Scroll down]  The president is just flat wrong about those silver bullets.  His predecessor pulled the trigger on one on July 15, 2008, by lifting an executive branch moratorium on oil and gas exploration and development in the Outer Continental Shelf regions off America's coasts.  Literally within minutes, the price-per-barrel of oil on the world market plunged from just below its historic high of $149 to $136, a 6.3 percent decrease.  Bush also challenged the then-Democratic Congress to lift a parallel legislative moratorium on the same areas.

Saving this for an "October surprise"?
Obama administration coy on possibility of tapping oil reserve as gas prices rise.  The Obama administration is staying mum about the possibility of opening up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a way to curb the rise in gas prices — declining to rule it in or out while insisting all along that officials are not interested in "short-term fixes."  Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner stirred speculation on Friday [2/24/2012] when, in an interview on CNBC, he said "there's a case for the use of the reserve in some circumstances."

Gassy Rhetoric: DNC chair blamed Republicans for high gas prices in 2005.  Obama told students in Miami on Thursday that there is "no silver bullet" when it comes to lowering gas prices.  The White House press secretary told reporters this week there are no "magic solutions."  But Democrats haven't always been so consistent in their message.  In fact, one prominent Democrat argued in 2005 that President Bush and Republicans were directly to blame for high gas prices.

'Stupid' and Oil Prices.  'The American people aren't stupid," thundered President Obama yesterday in Miami, ridiculing Republicans who are blaming him for rising gasoline prices.  Let's hope he's right, because not even Forrest Gump could believe the logic of what Mr. Obama is trying to sell.  To wit, that a) gasoline prices are beyond his control, but b) to the extent oil and gas production is rising in America, his energy policies deserve all the credit, and c) higher prices are one more reason to raise taxes on oil and gas drillers while handing even more subsidies to his friends in green energy.

API accuses Obama of lying about energy.  The White House is lying to the American public when it says its policies are responsible for increased oil production, the American Petroleum Institute said.

Oil Execs Say Obama Led Us To 'Energy Abyss'.  Energy executives and other industry players gathered for the North American Prospect Expo (NAPE) in Houston shredded administration assertions that it is opening up areas for oil and gas exploration and that its policies are responsible for increased oil and gas production on President Obama's watch.  "These have been the most difficult three years from a policy standpoint that I've ever seen in my career," Bruce Vincent, president of Houston oil and natural gas producer Swift Energy, told the Houston Chronicle.

The Obama Fable about Energy.  As I always say it is better to read Obama's speeches then to just listen.  Obama never talked about the high price of gasoline at the pump in his last SOTU.  It is way too high, and it is causing folks to have to sacrifice.  But, after all, Obama said we would need to sacrifice for hope and change.  The big question should have been answered by the community organizer as to why the price of oil is getting out of sight again?

Obama's "green energy" policies won't work.  Two powerful forces are pushing crude oil prices up.  First, the Obama Administration is restricting American production of oil through its "no drill America" energy policy, in which it obstructs efforts to increase domestic oil and gas production.  This is bad for consumers not only because it restricts total world supply, but especially because it restricts supply from sources unaffected by foreign political instability.  Secondly, oil from the Middle East remains vulnerable as illustrated by Iran's continuing threat to mine the Straits of Hormuz and so block 35 percent of all world oil carried by ship.

ANWR — Is President Obama Serious About Domestic Oil Production?  President Obama admitted in the State of the Union that energy production creates jobs, so why isn't he opening up new areas like the North Slope of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil and gas production?  As we have noted numerous times, the federal government leases a mere 3 percent of federal lands for energy production.  The United States is already the world's third largest oil producer, but we could produce a lot more oil if the federal government would let the American people explore for oil on more federal lands.
[Italics in original.]

Obama claims credit for cheap natural gas.  President Barack Obama has been taking the credit for the worldwide boon of cheap natural-gas, and declining to give credit to the entrepreneurial energy industry.

Drawing a pipeline in the sand.  On Wednesday, Rep. Fred Upton's House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to question Kerri-Ann Jones, assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environment and scientific affairs, about the administration's choice.  "We want to know why this project was derailed at the 11th hour after an extensive review process and with time to spare before the president's deadline," the Michigan Republican said in a statement Thursday [1/19/2012].  The House had given Mr. Obama until Feb. 21 to act on the project.

Destroying America by Denying Access to Energy.  It is the crime of the century that America, home to some of the world's greatest reserves of coal, natural gas and oil, is being deliberately destroyed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior as they do everything in their power to restrict access and drive energy producers out of business.  It is common sense that a nation that cannot produce sufficient electricity to turn on its lights and power its manufacturing sector will be destroyed if current Obama administration regulations and actions continue.

Obama loves oil! Not!  Without his nose growing visibly, the President claimed the government was behind the technological advances that led to the current shale gas boom, and even suggested that he might take credit for the rise in domestic oil production.  In fact, Mr. Obama's administration has hampered and castigated oil companies at every turn.  In the light of the hysterical grandstanding over the BP Gulf spill (whose impact proved to be greatly exaggerated), it was ironic indeed to hear the President now declare a great opening up of offshore exploration.

What can the President do to make America Prosper?  The President's policies are raising energy prices, which makes consumers poorer and destroys jobs in energy-intensive industries.  If President Obama is sincere when he says that 'we can't wait' to create jobs and economic growth, then he should reverse his anti-energy policies and tell the EPA to stop its regulatory onslaught against coal-fired electricity.  He could start tonight by taking back his decision to block the Keystone pipeline.

Interior Department energy propaganda misleading, disingenuous.  The interior department announced Tuesday [1/10/2012] that oil and gas lease sales on public lands increased 20 percent in 2011, generating more than $250 million in profits for taxpayers.  The fact, however, is that oil production on federal lands, lease sales, and revenue have drastically declined during the Obama administration.  "The American people need only to check their electric bills or the price they are paying at the pump to see just how well the Obama administration's energy policies are working. ... The president promised to make energy prices 'skyrocket,' and so he has." ... said IER Senior Vice President Dan Kish.

Top 10 Most Needed Government Reforms.  [#6]  Energy production:  It is far past the time for the federal government to get out of the way and let America's vast energy resources be developed.  With large coastal oil reserves and shale oil potential in the heartland, it is a crime that America can be held hostage for its energy needs by Middle Eastern madmen.

Will The EPA Choke Oil Shale Production?  The latest salvo in the administration's war on energy may be new rules and permits to regulate a process to get oil and gas from porous rock, sacrificing jobs and economic growth while under review.

Energy in America: No Bridge to Oil.  North of the Arctic Circle, the tiny village of Nuiqsut, Alaska, has become the latest flash point in the struggle between oil drilling and environmentalism.  The town, with a population of 400, nearly all Eskimos, sits on the edge of the Colville River and the National Petroleum Reserve, or NPR.  How isolated is it?  It takes four flights and eight hours to get there from Seattle.  Conoco Phillips wants to build a road bridge and pipeline over the river to connect to the nearby Alpine development, which sits just outside the NPR.  But the Army Corps of Engineers rejected the plan telling, the oil company it had to go under the river.

Obama's Disastrous Energy Record:  The energy policies of the Obama administration have made America less safe and have significantly contributed to our nation's high unemployment rate and lackluster economic growth.  At the same time, President Obama's failure to expand our oil resources has led to higher prices at the gas pump for all Americans.  In short, the Obama administration has been an utter failure in managing the energy sources of the United States.

Hey Obama: Gas Up and Go.  [This is] the most anti-oil, anti-energy administration this country has seen since the failed presidency of Jimmy Carter. ... But that's what happens when your president goes on a jihad against American energy.  Obama has opposed coal, he wants to be punitive against the oil industry, won't allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and, in a politically cowardly move, stalled plans for the Keystone XL pipeline.  The only energy Obama seems to support is the mass anger of Occupy Wall Street.

'Lazy' Isn't America's problem.  President Obama was wrong to say at the Asia-Pacific economic summit that America has gotten "lazy" in the last few decades at attracting foreign investment.  What he should have said, in light of his administration's handling of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, is that America has become quite adept at blocking it.

Powering Down: Federal regulation is killing energy development.  American energy policy is increasingly defined in terms of what is prohibited, not what is promoted.  Coal, nuclear, and natural "shale" gas all have been hampered by the current administration.

Obama, Liberals, And Destructive Energy "Policies".  President Barack Obama seems to have determined that our problem isn't so much "foreign oil," but oil itself.  His Administration has sought to force the nation away from consuming all types of oil — both foreign and domestic — and to move us in the direction of his environmentally preferred "green" energy sources.  Unfortunately, the President has approached energy policy just as he approaches most everything else — with the naïve assumption that as long as lots of government programs and mandates are established, the agenda will be accomplished and all will go well.

Obama's Regulatory Excess and Abuse.  Shortly after Obama took office, his Interior Secretary Ken Salazar "canceled land leases for energy development on 77 parcels of land in Utah.  Then he canceled a pending oil-shale lease sale based on his expert judgment that it 'didn't meet the smell test.'"  Kerpen adds, "Overall there has been a steep drop-off in leasing on federal lands....  2010 saw a 79 percent drop in leasing in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming from 2005.  Total onshore royalties dropped 33 percent in just two years."  Even more virulent is the Obama Administration's attack on coal, which the President seems to have targeted for quick phaseout, even though we have the world's most expansive coal reserves, offering 200 years of inexpensive energy.

We must remove energy production obstacles to create jobs.  Two of the biggest challenges facing the United States are getting people back to work and becoming less dependent on foreign oil from hostile countries.  Unfortunately, the President's rigid belief that stimulus spending could create private-sector jobs has failed and left us with higher unemployment and skyrocketing debt.  His energy policies undermine America's security by making it more difficult for entrepreneurs and private employers to produce domestic energy resources.

A Disastrous Presidency.  The gulf lost 40,000 jobs when the president decided it was best to shut down all oil production after the BP oil spill.  The approval for Keystone XL Pipeline sits on his desk, awaiting his signature.  It would connect Canadian oil from the tar sands of Alberta with refineries in Cushing, Oklahoma and Nederland, Texas, while providing 20,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs.  With recent discoveries and improvements in drilling techniques, some have called America the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.  America also has the largest oil reserves in the world; the Bakken Formation alone is said to contain more than 11 billion barrels.

Sen. Inhofe: Obama's EPA Waging War on Fossil Fuels.  "The President of the United States wants to destroy American energy," said Oklahoma GOP Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Public Works Committee.  "His intention is to kill fossil fuels, which we rely on for 99% of the energy in America.  "All of this killing of our energy supply is not by accident.  It's on purpose."

Texas EPA Czar Pushes 'Urgency' Drilling Regulations.  Fearing President Barack Obama might not get re-elected to the White House in 2012, Texas EPA Czar, Al Armendariz, a professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, called for greater "urgency" in getting oil and gas fields in the Lone Star to be declared as "health hazards."

End Mindless Energy Policy.  Of all the absolutely mindless things coming out of Washington these days, it's hard for me to imagine anything more mindless than the Obama administration's thinking on energy policy.  His energy secretary has said he thinks we'd all be better off if gas cost $7 per gallon.  They've used the BP oil spill, whose lasting environmental impact seems to be minimal, as an excuse to end all deepwater drilling and virtually all other drilling.  This has crippled the economies of oil-dependent states, particularly those along the Gulf Coast.

Oil industry study: Wider drilling would add 1 million jobs.  A study commissioned by a major oil-industry lobbying group found that federal policies to expand oil-and-gas development could add 1.1 million U.S. jobs over the next decade and bring in $36 billion in federal revenues by 2015.  "We can be a major driver in the economic recovery and we stand ready to do so," said American Petroleum Institute (API) President Jack Gerard in an interview about the study, unveiled Wednesday [9/7/2011].

The Obama energy crisis as you've never before seen it.  It's been eclipsed somewhat in recent months by the continued stagnation of the economy and the increasingly loud Republican presidential nomination battle, but the energy crisis caused by President Obama's Permatorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is just as serious as it ever was.  And it's going to get worse if something isn't done soon to lift the bureaucratic strangulation being applied to the oil and natural gas industries by Obama's Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

Congressman warns Alaska pipeline could be dismantled within 10 years.  The Obama administration is setting the stage for the dismantling of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and poses the greatest threat to its existence today, according to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings.  The 800-mile pipeline cost $8 billion to construct in the 1970s, and has moved more than 18 billion barrels of crude oil.  Three oil companies constructed it, in the face of significant opposition from environmentalists, in response to the 1973 Arab oil embargo.

Ruby Red Tape.  The abstraction known as "regulation" is often invoked as a reason businesses aren't growing or hiring fast enough, and with good reason.  Anyone wondering what that means in practice should consult the epic saga of the Ruby pipeline.

Solving Our Debt Crisis Through Energy Freedom.  Things would not look so bleak if the federal government allowed more freedom in the development of American energy resources.  Energy freedom would boost economic growth and lower oil prices.  The fiscal crisis would be eased as more revenues flowed into the Treasury, and fewer people [would need] unemployment benefits and food stamps.

The Tea Party, Right About Everything.  [Scroll down]  According to a new study by IHS Global Insight, merely picking up the pace in granting oil drilling permits would go a long way in producing jobs throughout the US, adding to GDP and reducing dependency on foreign oil sources.  In 2012 alone it could mean 230,000 new jobs, $44B more in GDP, 150 million more barrels of oil, and $15B less in imported oil.

Oiling The Economy.  With the job market in the dumps, and the president moving that to the top of his priority list, wouldn't getting out of the way of 740,000 jobs that could be created in the oil industry be a no-brainer?  Well, no.

Petroleum leader decries 'extreme' regulations.  Despite President Obama's pledge to cut red tape for job-creating industries, regulations and other delays are holding up billions of dollars in investments and thousands of jobs for oil and gas producers, the head of the American Petroleum Institute tells The Washington Times.

Obama's assault on the rule of law.  [Scroll down]  In 2008, the Senate voted against the "cap-and-trade" bill that would have created a carbon-tax system and vast federal power to interfere in the energy market.  So the Environmental Protection Agency declared carbon dioxide a pollutant and has embarked on a massive scheme to impose cap-and-trade through bureaucratic power.  Meanwhile, Mr. Obama's green fascists have virtually shut down new oil exploration and drilling.

Obama continues his war on cheap American energy.  Barack Obama's EPA has been on a crusade to kill off efforts to boost America's domestic energy supplies.  We are now among the least attractive nations for energy companies seeking to explore and develop energy supplies.  The American people are waking up to the man-made disaster that Barack Obama has created.  Three quarters of Americans now think our oil and gas resources are under-exploited.  Yet, Barack Obama and his Democratic allies are doing all they can do kill carbon and jam down our throats ruinously expensive and uneconomic green schemes that benefit their donors.

This is an original compilation, Copyright © 2024 by Andrew K. Dart




The use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for political gain:

Funding Bill Would Dismantle Strategic Reserve, Sell Off Stockpiles.  A funding bill is currently being discussed in Congress that could have catastrophic consequences for the Northeast in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency.  Buried on Page 441 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act is a proposal to sell off the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve, which contains 1 million barrels of gasoline.  The goal of the bill is to appropriate funds for several federal agencies, including the Department of Energy.  It stipulates that, once the NGSR is shut down, the department can't create a new reserve unless funding for it is "explicitly requested in advance in an annual budget."

US to Sell Off Entire Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve.  The sale of the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve is among the provisions intended to raise funds in one of six bills setting out appropriations for some federal departments this year after Congress narrowly avoided another shutdown last week.  Under a bill providing funding for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the fiscal year, a million barrels of the government's strategic reserve of petroleum would be sold off — the same amount as in the NGSR, which is located in New York Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts and South Portland, Maine.  "Upon the complete of such sale, the Secretary [of Energy] shall carry out the closure of the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve," the bill states, and "may not establish any new regional petroleum product reserve unless funding of the proposed regional petroleum product reserve is explicitly requested in advance in an annual budget."

Energy Department claims strategic oil reserve refill prices good for taxpayers, industry disagrees.  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced Wednesday another request to buy 3 million barrels of oil that will help replenish the nation's energy stockpiles, which have been drained under President Joe Biden to their lowest level since the 1980s.  The agency has been doing these monthly buys.  In the announcements, the DOE highlighting that, since it's buying the oil at less than it was sold in the past couple of years, it's a good deal for taxpayers.  Tim Stewart, president of the U.S. Oil and Gas Association, told Just The News that it's not such a good deal when you look at the historic average price of what the oil was originally purchased at, which was less than half what the DOE is buying it for now.

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves inventory only has a 20-day supply.  Seems that no one remembers the Oil Embargo of 1973, just 50 years ago!  In 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an oil embargo against the United States, triggering a crude oil crisis that sent the U.S. economy into a recession.  To mitigate from any future shortages of oil, President Gerald Ford signed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, which established the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).  The SPR is centrally located along the Gulf Coast where the oil can be distributed to nearly half of all U.S. oil refineries using interstate pipelines or barges.  Interestingly, California, the 4th largest economy in the world, has no access to the SPR as there are no pipelines over the Sierra Mountains to reach the "California Energy Island".

AAF Commentary on US Drained Petroleum Reserve.  "The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created to be used in emergency scenarios, not for the Biden administration to tap into when they hit a bad news cycle on their record-breaking inflation," said AAF Executive Director Paul Teller.  "The Biden administration's decision to drain the reserve has consequences we are seeing now.  The job of our government is to protect US resources for times of uncertainty, but the Biden administration has put the United States in a critical position.  We must harness America's natural resources and replenish our oil reserve with domestic oil production.  Now is the time to unleash American energy and make us not only independent, but a resource to other western nations, so no one needs to crawl to Iran, hat in hand."

If you're tempted to think the government cares about you...  Does anybody really believe that Biden cared whether the taxpayers have to pay $60 or $100 per barrel to refill the strategic petroleum reserve that he tapped to buy votes?  After all, it was his energy policies that jacked up the cost of gas and diesel, not the Russians or the supply chain disruption.

Our Establishment's Alternate Realities.  One common denominator that explains why previously successful societies implode is their descent into fantasies.  A collective denial prevents even discussion of existential threats and their solutions. [...] Consider natural gas and oil.  The Biden administration waged war on both by canceling pipelines, drilling on federal lands, and entire oil fields.  When the price soared and the 2022 midterms neared, Biden suddenly begged formerly shunned illiberal regimes like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela to pump all the hated oil they could to lower the price.  A desperate Biden drained much of the strategic petroleum reserve — he has yet to refill it — simply to lower the price of gasoline and thus win voters back to the Democratic Party.  When the midterms passed, Biden resumed his attack on once bad, then good, and now bad again fossil fuels — at least until the 2024 election.

U.S. Energy Secretary Consulted Top Chinese Energy Official Before Draining Strategic Oil Reserve.  he Biden Administration's Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, held several talks with her Chinese counterpart prior to the widely-panned decision to drain the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) back in 2021.  As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, the meetings were documented in Department of Energy (DOE) calendars obtained by Fox News.  Granholm met with Zhang Jianhua, chairman of the China National Energy Administration, on November 19th and November 21st, 2021, meetings which were never publicly revealed.  Just two days after their second meeting, on November 23rd, Joe Biden announced the decision to start draining the SPR in order to combat rising gas prices in the United States.  "Secretary Granholm's multiple closed-door meetings with a CCP-connected energy official raise serious questions about the level of Chinese influence on the Biden administration's energy agenda," said Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust.

Energy Sec Had Secret Conversation With CCP Official Before SPR Release.  There have been a lot of questions raised about how Joe Biden and his administration have dealt with China, particularly in light of the Biden family foreign business dealings scandal.  As my colleague Andrew Malcolm has said, "He's been remarkably passive given the increasing power and aggressiveness of Beijing's Communist leaders."  We've seen how weak Biden has been in response to all kinds of troubling actions from China, including spying on the U.S. — from the spy balloon to the most recent hacking of the U.S. Ambassador's email account, as well as the accessing of accounts of other U.S. government officials.  Now there's more troubling news about something that happened in 2021 — but we're just finding out now.

Biden Screwed Us Forever On Another Thing.  The SPR is probably never going to be refilled, according to one expert, and maybe not even for the reason that first popped into your mind.  Let me set the stage for today's big reveal.  The SPR was created under President Gerald Ford in 1975 following the 1973-1974 Arab oil embargo, which turned out to be just the first of that decade's two major oil shocks.  Set in massive salt caverns in Louisiana and Texas, the SPR was supposed to hold enough crude oil — 714 million barrels — to help us weather any future embargo.  While it was never large enough to do that for any significant time, the SPR's very existence strengthened our geopolitical position versus some very nasty oil producers in places like Iran and Russia.  It took until about 2010 — 35 years! — to fill those reservoirs all the way up.  It took Dementia Joe just two years to cut our reserves in half, down to levels not seen since 1983.

CPI notes: Biden's draining off the SPR like a giant with a straw.  It's also another reason inflation as read by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is being held at bay.  His pulling that oil out and selling it off is keeping the wraps on oil prices globally, which, in turn, strips that volatility out of the equation for those core prices.  But there IS a bottom to that barrel, and POTATUS has done nothing about refilling what is supposed to be our "emergency" supply, not his personal oily piggy bank.  [Tweet] [...] Bidenomics doesn't feel all that terrific and when the hard numbers are put in front of people, i.e. "This cost X in 2021 and now costs +% for Y in 2023," it just confirms what they know as the tale of the register tape at the grocery store — and the gas station.  That it is nowhere near where we once were.

Joe Biden and the 'Impossible' Task of Refilling America's Oil Reserves.  President Joe Biden in December began working to replenish the 180 million barrels he sold last year from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  Nearly six months later, he still has zero barrels to show for it.  Biden's Energy Department on Monday announced its intention to purchase up to three million reserve barrels as a "continuation" of the president's "replenishment strategy."  So far, however, that "strategy" has seen the Democrat fail to purchase a single barrel of reserve oil.  The administration first tried to purchase three million reserve barrels in December, when Biden kicked off his "plan to replenish the SPR."  One month later, Biden's Energy Department revealed it had rejected all offers it received to purchase the oil because those offers "were either too expensive or didn't meet the required specifications."  Republicans have hammered Biden for his management of the reserves, which sit at their lowest levels in four decades after the Democrat last year sold 180 million reserve barrels in an attempt to lower gas prices ahead of a difficult midterm election.

Biden Is Draining the Strategic Oil Reserve.  Republicans Are Demanding an Investigation..  Two Republicans on Monday asked a congressional watchdog to assess the Biden administration's management of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and audit its modernization program, saying sales from the SPR have undermined U.S. energy security.  Senator John Barrasso, ranking member of the Senate energy committee, and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, head of the House energy committee, asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to evaluate the Department of Energy's (DOE) management of the reserve after the administration oversaw sales of about 250 million barrels from the facility last year.  The sales have pushed levels of the reserve to the lowest since 1983.  "DOE's mismanagement of the SPR has undermined America's energy security, leaving the nation more vulnerable to energy supply disruptions, and increasing the ability for OPEC and Russia to use energy as a geopolitical weapon," the lawmakers wrote to Gene Dodaro, the head of the GAO.

Joe Biden's Love-Hate Relationship with Oil.  On the last Friday of January, the Republican House of Representatives passed a bill aimed at curtailing the president's ability to exploit the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for partisan ends.  If enacted, the bill would require that, except in a "severe energy supply disruption," any drawdown of the reserve would need to be accompanied by a plan to open up new federal lands for oil and gas leases "by the same percentage as the percentage of petroleum ... that is to be drawn down."  President Biden has already made clear that he would veto the bill if it made it to his desk, which it won't, because the Democrats control the Senate.  Why do Republicans think a bill like this is necessary?  Because over the last two years, Biden has repeatedly timed selloffs from the oil reserve for political reasons, especially in the run-up to last November's elections, when his party was trying extra hard to make sure that oil and gasoline were cheap.  By now, the reserve has shrunk to 380 million barrels, its lowest level since 1984.

Biden's Crude Oil Supply Raid Has Plunged America Into Crisis.  Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana got it right: Over the past two years, President Joe Biden stalled domestic energy production, begged Saudi Arabia to send more oil to America and drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — all in his effort to lower gas prices in advance of the 2022 election.  It's at the point where the national oil reserve created in 1975 to be available in the event of a national emergency is becoming its own emergency.  Under the Biden administration, the midterm election and spiking gasoline prices created a political crisis for Democrats, one that the president solved by draining 42% of what was in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when he took office.

House passes "Keep Biden's hands out of the SPR cookie jar" bill.  Well, true to their word, House Republicans proposed and passed a bill to keep Joe Biden from raiding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  [Tweet]  The bill Steve Scalise and the others put together was actually pretty clever.  It doesn't forbid Biden outright from raiding his favorite piggybank.  It just ties his withdrawals up in certain conditions.  A vote on the bill also had the added benefit of putting members of Congress on record as far as support for American energy independence went. [...] Needless to say, Biden was already threatening a veto even before a single "aye" was heard on the floor.

White House Won't Rule Out Tapping Strategic Oil Reserve Again.  Speaking to reporters at the White House Friday afternoon, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to rule out tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve yet again as gas prices continue to increase.  She also failed to explain when the Biden administration plans to refill the reserve.  [Tweet]  In order to mitigate the political problem of high gas prices ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, President Joe Biden depleted the SPR to historically low and dangerous levels not seen since the 1970s.  High prices were self-inflicted through Biden's war on oil and gas in order to satisfy the demands of inefficient, alternative energy activists.  [Another tweet]  Meanwhile, House Republicans are working to stop Biden's abuse of the SPR.  [More tweets]

The Manic Methods of Mad Democrats.  The list of 2022 pre-election gambits is endless.  Biden offered amnesties for both student-loan debt payments and federal marijuana convictions.  But perhaps the most flagrant Biden pre-midterm contortion was his sudden interest in flooding markets with oil and gas, hitherto reduced in supply within the United States due to his own green handlers.  Biden requested the Saudis to postpone OPEC cutbacks until after the election.  Prior to the midterms, he begged illiberal regimes like Venezuela, Iran, and Russia to pump more oil as well.  They were not keen to help him out, so, in the weeks leading up to the midterms, Biden began draining millions of barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to reduce gasoline prices, even as he lied that his own policies were bringing down oil and natural gas prices.  Then shortly after the midterms, Biden announced he would cease drawing down the reserve that was banked at low prices under Trump and instead would buy a few million barrels at sky-high prices.  Since the election's conclusion, he has been silent about concerns for the voter's gasoline and natural gas price woes.  Why the change?

Biden DOE rejects bids to restock oil reserve.  Roughly one month ago, the White House answered one question we've been hammering them about for more than a year.  Joe Biden drained nearly 200 million barrels of oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a failed effort to keep gas prices low ahead of the midterm elections.  Was he ever planning on replacing that oil?  And how much would it cost if he does?  At the time, Biden was saying that he would place the first order for three million barrels of oil for the SPR in February.  That doesn't happen overnight, so they opened up the process to take bids from the oil companies.  As you would expect, the oil and gas industry responded, sending in their bids quickly.  Those bids were turned over to the Department of Energy (which oversees the SPR), but the process remained under the watchful eye of the White House.  This weekend we received our answer.  Nobody's bid was accepted.  The DOE rejected all of them.  Where we go from here remains a mystery.

What will it cost us to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after Biden drained it?  We're finally getting an answer to a question that we've been posing here for more than a year.  Does Joe Biden ever plan on replenishing that nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, now that he's drained it down to levels not seen since Jimmy Carter was in office?  Thankfully, the answer appears to be yes, though it's going to take time, not to mention a tremendous amount of money.  In February, Biden will order a delivery of three million barrels of oil to be pumped back into the reserve.  That may sound like a lot, but keep in mind that Biden released almost 200 million barrels from the SPR over the past year.  Replenishing it by three million barrels at a time is going to take many years.  And that assumes that there will be enough oil available.

Biden Admin Quietly Raises The Price It's Willing To Pay To Refill Oil Reserves.  The Energy Department announced Friday that it would begin buying oil to refill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) at prices below $96 per barrel, even though the White House previously stated that the department would begin buying back oil at a price of $67 to $72 per barrel.  The Energy Department declared that it would start to repurchase crude oil at a lower price than the $96 per barrel average price that barrels were previously sold for to secure a "good deal" for the taxpayer, according to an official press release.  However, the White House said in October that the department would buy oil back once the average price of oil reached $67 to $72 a barrel, touting the plan as a "win for taxpayers."

Joe Biden must stop politicizing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  In case you hadn't noticed, the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve is now down to 389 million barrels, the lowest levels seen since the early years of Ronald Reagan's presidency.  Even with the election now behind us, the current plan is to keep releasing more oil from the SPR until crude oil prices drop below $70 per barrel.  This is obviously a situation that can't continue indefinitely and the SPR needs to be refilled.  Has anyone in Washington learned anything from this experience?  The president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, Mike Sommers, recently went on Fox News with a message for the White House and any future presidents who might be tempted to follow Joe Biden's example.  He bitingly referred to the SPR as now being the "strategic political reserve," and called on the government to stop politicizing what is supposed to be a vital national asset that is meant to supply a buffer during an actual emergency, not a political tool that presidents use to scare up a few more votes.

As White House drains oil reserve to near-40-year lows, Biden asks for $500m to modernize system.  The Biden administration is asking Congress for hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to shore up and modernize parts of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve system, a request that comes after the White House has spent months aggressively draining the levels of fuel from the system itself.  The request, a rider attached to the White House's $38 billion Ukrainian funding package, would "provide the Department of Energy, Energy Security and Infrastructure Modernization Fund account $500 million for modernization activities of the four Strategic Petroleum Reserve sites," the White House said in the letter.  The funds "would allow the SPR to both maintain operational readiness levels and also alleviate anticipated shortfalls due to supply chain issues, the COVID-19 pandemic, and related schedule delays," the request said.  The funding petition comes after months of the Biden administration withdrawing heavily from the SPR in order to address sky-high fuel prices around the country.

Saudi Issues a Warning to Biden About the Dangers of Draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  Saudi Arabia is warning that President Joe Biden's politically motivated draining of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve could cause serious problems for the United States in the near future.  [Tweet]  Last week President Biden announced yet another 11 million barrel release from the SPR, falsely claiming the move will lower gas prices for American families at the pump.  The SPR is now at its lowest level since 1984 with just 17 days worth of supply left.  The White House has been vague about when the Biden administration plans to refill the reserve after Democrats rejected a 2020 proposal from President Donald Trump to fill the SPR at $20 per barrel.  [Tweet]

Biden Is Destroying Our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  [Scroll down] The Reserve's depletion is a major concern because there is no assurance that it will be refilled despite the Biden administration's pledge to refill it when crude prices drop to or below the $67-72 per barrel price range.  Biden is prepared to authorize significant additional sales in the coming months if conditions require.  With the projections for a bad winter in the northeast, can the Biden administration resist the urge to sell even more SPR oil?  Even if the Administration does commence refill, the process will take years.  The highest fill rate the SPR has achieved is 292,000 barrels per day (BPD) in 1981.  At that rate (assuming it can be achieved) it will take over three years to refill the Reserve to capacity — and that assumes perfect execution and no supply or logistical glitches.  Moreover, it is questionable if that rate can be achieved because, in the early years, the SPR was filling empty storage caverns.  Now, they'll be topping off caverns, a process that is logistically more difficult.

Biden Is 'Buying Votes' Ahead of Midterm Elections With Policy Decisions: Rep. Lauren Boebert.  [Scroll down] In 2021, when green energy policies caused gasoline prices to soar, Biden directed the Department of Energy to release 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which amounts to about two and a half days' worth of the nation's consumption.  When gas prices continued to climb, Biden dipped into the reserves several more times.  By July 29, the SPR had reached its lowest level since 1985.  As of Oct. 14, the SPR had about 405 million barrels, down from 638 million barrels in January 2021 when Biden took office.  Congress created the SPR in 1975 to protect the United States from volatility in oil markets and to ensure an inventory of energy supplies in emergencies, such as war or natural disasters.  The United States just reached the end of peak hurricane season, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently threatened NATO forces with nuclear weapons.  Boebert said Biden and Democrat lawmakers are skirting legislative procedure to buy the votes they haven't earned over the past two years.

Biden is depleting the nation's strategic oil supply to save his own skin.  After attempting a political quid pro quo with Saudi leaders (apparently this isn't an impeachable offense anymore), President Joe Biden has gone back to saving his political skin the old-fashioned way — by using his domestic powers and resources to ease voters' short-term anger.  Biden recently went to Saudi Arabia and debased himself, begging the kingdom to produce more oil as a political favor to help his party — but only through Election Day, because there's a plane to save!  Months later, his ask has been brutally rejected, with the OPEC oil cartel instead actually cutting production.  The Saudis, of course, deny that this was retaliatory, but what did Biden expect?  He campaigned for president on a promise to turn Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler into an international "pariah."

Biden Team Doing All It Can to Buy Election with Latest Move.  Gas prices have been going up again, even as the Biden team tells us ridiculous stories of how much they're saving us on gas.  White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed on Tuesday that they were saving us $420 million a day.  At this point, they're just making up numbers and pulling them out of the air.  That takes some kind of gall to claim since we're still paying far more for gas than when Joe Biden came in.  They think we have 15-second memories and don't remember?  But if that were true, why is Joe Biden still ripping off our Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

Biden taken aback by multiple reporters suggesting oil reserve release is meant to help Democrats.  President Biden appeared taken aback Wednesday at multiple reporters suggesting that his tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was politically motivated with the midterms three weeks away.  Biden announced the release of 15 million more barrels of oil from the emergency reserve, saying it would lower gas prices and bolster domestic oil production.  As he concluded his remarks at the White House, a reporter shouted out at him, leading him to sarcastically ask her to "speak louder."  "What is your response to Republicans who say you are only doing this SPR release to help Democrats in the midterms?" the reporter asked.  "Where have they been the last four months?  That's my response," Biden said, scoffing.

Biden Visibly Irritated By Reporters Asking if Releasing Oil From Reserves Ahead of Midterms is Politically Motivated.  Biden's handlers trotted him out for few minutes Wednesday afternoon to deliver remarks on his plans to lower energy costs.  Joe Biden on Wednesday announced the release of 15 million barrels of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  Of course this is a political ploy ahead of the midterm elections to help Democrats.  Biden is artificially reducing the price of gas while he drains the SPR.  "What is your response to Republicans who say you are only doing this SPR release to help Democrats in the midterms?" a reporter asked Biden.  A visibly irritated Biden responded, "Where have they been the last four months?  That's my response!"  Joe Biden doesn't even know where he has been the last four months.

Biden [is] reportedly about to imperil national security by draining Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gasoline prices before midterms.  I don't understand why Republican candidates for office are not challenging their opponents on whether or not they support President Biden's harming national security by draining of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for temporary price declines at the gasoline pump as the nation votes.  Biden's policies brought about high oil prices, starting with his cancelation of the Keystone Pipeline and limits on oil leasing on Day One of his term.  Now, as international tensions soar, and formerly reliable oil suppliers like Saudi Arabia mull retaliation for slights from Biden, our ability to withstand a cutoff of diminishment of oil supplies is imperiled by Biden's move to shore up his political support.  President Trump tried to add to the SPR when his policies brought low oil prices but Democrats blocked him; now Biden figuratively eats the seed corn that President Trump tried to put away for a rainy day as clouds loom.

Joe Biden's Ad Hoc Use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  Notwithstanding vociferous criticism of the politicized use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve by the Biden administration, such drawdowns have been employed for decades by Democratic and Republican administrations alike as an ad hoc and futile response to short-run increases in fuel prices.  Unlike the case for all previous administrations, which viewed the domestic production of fossil fuels as a positive or at least necessary objective, the major difference introduced by the Biden administration is the incoherence of its policies on conventional energy.  To wit: a combination of "net-zero" climate policies supposedly ending the use of fossil fuels and desperate attempts to avoid sharp increases in gasoline prices in the here and now.  These goals are impossible to reconcile; that is how we wind up with constraints on domestic oil production combined with supplication to the Saudis for increases in output.  But careful thinking about the purpose and efficient use of the SPR leads to a surprising conclusion: The Biden SPR drawdown policy on net is likely to improve allocational efficiency in the narrow context of emergency preparation.  In order to see this, it is useful first to ask whether there is a reasonable argument in support of an emergency oil stockpile owned and managed by the government.

The limits — and possibilities — Biden faces in ordering more SPR releases.  President Joe Biden is weighing the release of more oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to help tamp another surge in prices expected after OPEC+ announced its plans to slash oil production by roughly 2 million barrels per day.  But experts warn that further depleting the nation's emergency stockpile could be a risky move for Biden — one that could have a limited market impact and leave the United States vulnerable and resource-strapped at a time of an actual domestic supply emergency.

Biden's Secret Promise To OPEC Backfires.  In early September, United States Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, told Reuters that President Joe Biden was considering extending the release of oil from America's emergency stockpiles, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), through October, and thus beyond the date when the program had been set to end.  But then, a few hours later, an official with the Department of Energy called Reuters and contradicted Granholm, saying that the White House was not, in fact, considering more SPR releases.  Five days later, the White House said it was considering refilling the SPR, thereby proposing to do the exact opposite of what Granholm had proposed.  The confusion around the Biden administration's petroleum policy was cleared up yesterday after a senior official revealed that the White House had made a secret offer to buy up to 200 million barrels of OPEC+ oil to replenish the SPR in exchange for OPEC+ not cutting oil production.

Biden to release 10M more barrels from Strategic Petroleum Reserve in November in wake of OPEC+ cuts.  President Biden on Wednesday said he would release 10 million more barrels of oil from the U.S.' Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in November in a move to counter raising gas prices again.  His decision was announced just hours after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) said it would be cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day.  The cuts will restore the oil market for top producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia but are also expected to drive up costs at the pump globally.

The Editor says...
OPEC wouldn't have any influence on U.S. gas prices if domestic oil production in all 50 states was unrestricted.

GOP Congressman: Joe Biden Has Drained [the] Strategic Petroleum Reserve Right When Florida Needs It.  The disaster that is, has been, and will be the Biden administration continues to hurt regular Americans, this time with a huge impact being felt across large parts of the state of Florida in the wake of Hurricane Ian's devastating effects.  As millions go without power — though thanks to the mobilization of human resources by Governor Ron DeSantis those numbers keep dropping quickly — one of the biggest needs is gas to power emergency vehicles, generators, and the automobiles of tens of millions of Floridians trying to relocate, support the clean up and rebuilding process, or help loved ones and neighbors.  Speaking to Fox Business Network's Kennedy, one Republican Congressman is calling out Joe Biden and his reckless use of the Strategic Reserves to lower gas prices after his climate policies gouged them in the first place.

Biden [is] dangerously draining [the] Strategic Petroleum Reserve like [a] 'campaign credit card, industry warns.  President Biden is recklessly draining the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to insulate his party from the political fallout of high oil prices before the upcoming midterm elections, claims the president of the U.S. Oil and Gas Association, Tim Stewart.  Stocks of crude oil in the SPR fell 6.9 million barrels in the week ending Sept. 16 to 427.2 million barrels, the lowest level since August 1984, according to Department of Energy data.  "This is the first time in history, honestly, that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been used as a campaign credit card to buy down political risk for the midterms," Stewart said Friday on the "Just the News, Not Noise" TV show.  "Let me put it in perspective if I could," he added.  "At the current rate, the U.S. is selling more oil out of its emergency reserves than the production of most medium-sized OPEC countries like Algeria or Angola.  We're selling twice as much per day than we're producing out of Alaska. [...]"

Biden's Depletion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Could Be Catastrophic Soon.  Biden's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan may have tanked his approval ratings, but record inflation and soaring gas prices kept them underwater.  As fuel prices reached historic highs, Biden stubbornly refused to do anything that would increase domestic supply, opting instead to buy fuel from overseas before eventually raiding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  It was a foolish thing to do, and while gas prices have gone down, the impact of raiding the reserves is debatable.  But one thing is for sure: Biden depleted the reserves, which are now at a 37-year low, to boost his poll numbers.

While Biden Brags About Releasing Oil From Emergency Oil Stockpile, Reserve Plunges To Lowest Level Since 1985.  While President Joe Biden brags about reducing gas prices by releasing gigantic amounts of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the crucial reserve has plunged to its lowest level of oil since May 1985.  Last week, the emergency crude oil stockpile plummeted 4.6 million barrels, leaving 469.9 million barrels, down from 618 million barrels last September, Reuters reported.  The reserve can hold as much as 727 million barrels of oil.  Biden announced in March he would raid the reserve — which is spread among four sites along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana — depleting it by 1 million barrels per day over six months.  "The scale of this release is unprecedented:  the world has never had a release of oil reserves at this 1 million per day rate for this length of time," the White House bragged.

Obama's Oily Desperation.  The excuse being used by the Obama Administration and the International Energy Agency for the oil release is that reduced oil exports from Libya are raising energy prices and thus hurting world economies.  However, the Saudis have already said they would increase production to offset losses from Libya — and they have done so. ... The idea that the federal government needed to knock oil prices down further or faster for economic purposes while oil was already in what would be considered a dramatic sell-off is simply not credible.

Too Little, Way Too Late.  The Democrats have been blocking oil companies from developing America's fossil fuel resources — the largest in the world — for decades.  Whenever their anti-drilling policies are challenged, they assure us that increasing domestic production would do little or nothing to bring down the cost of energy.  Yet, whenever the price of gasoline becomes politically embarrassing, what do they do?  They take "emergency" action to increase the supply of petroleum by opening up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — some 700 million barrels of oil that are stored along the Gulf coast.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Is an Obama '12 Reelection Asset.  The American economy, the one that even Democrats admit Obama now owns, is hurtling towards a near depression so fast that the administration will exploit any asset, and embrace any ploy, however desperate, in the hopes the economy will resurrect itself and reflate Obama's plummeting poll numbers at the same time.

Cash for Pumpers.  On Thursday [6/23/2011] the President announced that he would release 30 million barrels of oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  The immediate effect on world markets was to knock the oil price down by over $4 a barrel.  But many experts question the wisdom — and the timing — of the move.  Clearly, the timing of the withdrawal was politically motivated.

Is Obama's Oil Dump A Political Ploy?  The White House announced Thursday that for only the third time in history, the U.S. would release 30 million barrels of oil from the national stockpile. ... The spigots have been opened just twice — in 2005 by President Bush, who released 11 million barrels after disruptions from Hurricane Katrina, and in 1992 by President Bush Sr., who tapped 20 million barrels in the wake of the Gulf War.  President Obama's release — which is far bigger than either of those two emergencies — is supposedly in response to disruptions from Libya, which isn't even a U.S. supplier.  It isn't our crisis.

Obama's Oily Desperation.  In a move that has everyone from oil analysts to traders to petroleum producers scratching their heads, the Obama Administration announced on Thursday morning that the U.S. along with over two dozen other nations will release 60 million barrels of oil from emergency oil stock piles.  Half of the total release, or 30 million barrels, will come from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Isn't a Political ATM.  The Obama administration announced Thursday the answer to a question it hass been mulling for months:  It will tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to release 30 million barrels of oil over the next 30 days.  The administration is hoping the move will lower the price of oil.  While the move led to immediate declines in the short term, this move will do little to impact prices and energy security over the long term and only proves that the administration's energy policy is a disaster.

Business group slams Obama over oil release.  Washington's most powerful business lobby panned the Obama administration's decision to tap the nation's strategic oil reserve Thursday, calling the move "ill-advised."

New Low.  Less than a year ago, the Obama Administration was insisting that its moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico would do no harm to our nation's economy because we could just buy more oil from OPEC.  Now, instead of allowing more production in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Alaska, the President is tapping our strategic reserve in the salt domes of Texas and Louisiana, which will only have to be refilled later at potentially higher prices.  Tapping the SPR will do nothing to bring down oil prices in the long term, but rather distort markets even further without bringing any significant new energy supplies to market.  If allowed to drill in Alaska, we could produce an extra one million barrels a day for decades, rather than one month, as the president's plan calls for.

Obama wrong to curry political favor by tapping oil reserve.  Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to curry political favor shows how out of touch President Barack Obama and his administration are to reality.

Our Hokey President.  [Obama's] release of oil from the strategic reserve is a classic:  the Democrats tell us that increasing our domestic production won't affect gas prices, until they face a political crisis.  Then the clouds part, momentarily, and they remember Economics 1:  increasing supply will lower prices.

Tap the nation's true oil reserve in the Gulf of Mexico.  The Obama administration has come under criticism for its decision to drain 30 million barrels from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, purportedly in an effort to address Libya's unrest and ease prices at the pump.  The critics are right.  This move was not necessary.  Gas prices are trending downward already, and our nation doesn't face an emergency that warrants tapping into the strategic reserve.

Update:
Release of oil from reserves seems to have had no effect.  The move was widely ridiculed as a blatantly political effort to get past the Fourth of July holiday weekend; some liberals, however, hailed it as a success.  The verdict is now in, as the effect of the release has run its course.  This morning, an expert in the field emailed:
  * The SPR's release of 30 million barrels of oil was sold to oil refiners and traders at more than $10/bbl BELOW market.  Can the US taxpayer afford the $300mm subsidy?
  * Does the public know that prices are the same now, less than two weeks since the SPR announcement?  Was this money well spent?

Obama's gas stunt comes up empty.  The results are in from President Obama's controversial decision last month to tap into the nation's oil reserves to drive down gas prices:  none.  Like his futile efforts to revive the moribund U.S. economy by spending $1 trillion in borrowed money, the president's release of 30 million barrels from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve produced nothing more than a brief pause in the steady rise in prices at the pump.

Whether he needs to or not...
Obama may tap Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  [Scroll down]  The whole situation if rife with political implications, especially for President Obama, who faces reelection in November.  Obama can't appear to be seen as weak on Iran.  That would open him up to charges that he's soft on national defense.  But crimping Iran's oil output too much could raise gas prices, angering voters just before they head to the ballot box.




Gangster government attack on oil companies.  The main feature of the Democrats' bill, which was defeated in the Senate but which we probably have not heard the last of, was to deny five major oil companies the domestic production tax credit that is available to all manufacturers and mining companies, including oil companies.  The justification?  Well, big oil companies get lousy ratings in polls.  So stick 'em with a higher tax bill.  Sounds a lot like gangster government to me.

U.S. Energy Crisis a Liberal Power Grab.  It is no coincidence that U.S. oil production peaked in 1970, the year after President Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act and the Environmental Protection Agency was established, just the beginning of a decade of laws that have made the United States the hardest place in the world to produce energy.  When the federal government started taking over roles traditionally held by the states and expanding its reach into every corner of every economic activity in the country, those who love more government had the perfect proxy for justifying more power over the economy and over the way Americans live their lives.

Obama's schizo energy policy.  Rising energy costs already have changed many families' summer vacation plans, threatened to short-circuit the weak recovery from the Great Recession and, combined with recent increases in food prices, contributed to incipient inflationary pressures that foreshadow a lower standard of living and a return to the stagflation of Jimmy Carter's presidency.

New Issa report goes after Obama administration's energy agenda.  Rep. Darrell Issa of California, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has found another target in the Obama administration's policy agenda:  energy.  Late Monday [5/23/2011], Issa released a scathing report accusing the White House of being complicit in driving up oil prices to push a move to alternative energy sources.

Rising Energy Costs: An Intentional Result Of Government Action.  President Obama, Energy Secretary Chu and others have stated that American consumers should pay more for energy, including electricity and gasoline.  From a political perspective, increasing the price of energy (by whatever means) helps them make the case for "green" energy.  Even beyond the effort to raise energy prices through "cap and trade" legislation that Congress rejected, a pattern of increased enforcement, regulatory delay and new hurdles can be seen across numerous agencies and approval processes.  The result of this government action is less production, higher costs for producers, and more expensive energy.

Natural gas pains.  America's energy woes show what's wrong when politicians intervene in the market. ... As gasoline prices skyrocket, natural-gas backers sense an opportunity to grab a larger share of the fuel market and want lawmakers to climb aboard the "green" fuel express.

Drill, Maybe, Drill.  When President Obama said during his Saturday [5/14/2011] radio address that "we should increase safe and responsible oil production here at home," the operative words were "safe and responsible."  We will drill if it's safe for polar bears, caribou and West Texas lizards, and if it doesn't contribute to the "climate change" myth.  Similar words were used to justify the seven-year moratorium on offshore drilling off both coasts, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and in the seas off Alaska following last year's Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf, even though no other wells were found to be unsafe.

Obama's latest fake plan for more drilling.  First he promised to open up the Atlantic to exploration.  Then he reneged.  Then he said he'd lift his oil moratorium in the Gulf.  Production has only decreased since.  Yesterday [5/14/2011] Obama again played Lucy to the American energy consumer's Charlie Brown.  This time he is promising to direct "the Department of Interior to conduct annual lease sales in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve, while respecting sensitive areas, and to speed up the evaluation of oil and gas resources in the mid and south Atlantic."

Cole: "The president doesn't know squat about energy production".  Oklahoma is one of the nation's top energy states, so it's no surprise that its senators and representatives are opposed to President Obama's energy and environmental policies.  What is surprising, however, is the intensity of their reactions to Obama's proposal to do away with $4 billion worth of energy industry tax breaks.

Washington vs. Energy Security.  Americans keep hearing only short-term solutions and narrowly focused rules and regulations.  The U.S. still imports more than half its oil, gasoline prices are at historic highs, and consumers are paying the price.  One bipartisan policy tradition is to deny Americans the use of our own resources.

Shrinking Oil Supplies Put Alaskan Pipeline at Risk.  When the famed Trans Alaska Pipeline carried two million barrels of oil a day, the naturally warm crude surged 800 miles to the Port of Valdez in three days and arrived at a temperature of about 100 degrees.  Now, dwindling oil production along Alaska's northern edge means the pipeline carries less than one-third the volume it once did — and the crude takes five times as long to get to its destination.

Obama war on oil production threatens Alaska pipeline.  The House is voting on the Reversing President Obama's Offshore Moratorium Act today which, among other things, would require the administration to allow drilling in at least 50 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf, including the Arctic.  Also today, The Wall Street Journal's Russell Gold has a great article on how President Obama's efforts to stop new oil fields in Alaska is threatening to shut down the entire Alaska pipeline.

Public Misplaces Blame for High Oil Prices.  [Scroll down]  Obama and other Democrats have pooh-poohed the idea of more drilling.  First, new leases would take years to result in new oil, they say.  Second, they argue that oil companies are sitting on existing leases, with some hinting that companies are deliberately sitting on proven reserves.  Oil companies point out that it takes a long time to get to the point of drilling.  They have to find the oil — if it exists — and then figure out if it's economical to pull it out of the ground.

Phony 'Safety' Fears Cripple U.S. Oil.  The Energy Department wants to find ways to make hydraulic fracturing, a fast-growing method of extracting natural gas, safer and cleaner.  Say, isn't that how the administration justified its offshore drilling ban?

Get a Clue About Drilling And $4 Gas.  With last month marking the one year anniversary of the Gulf spill, the public should take a moment to review America's energy landscape.  They won't like what they see.  The White House has declared open season on our domestic oil firms.

More oil would mean smaller deficit.  With the price of oil at more than $100 per barrel, higher gasoline prices are eating into Americans' budgets.  Consumers, however, are not the only ones losing out.  The various taxes, lease revenues and royalty payments to federal, state and local governments for oil and gas production on public lands is a significant source of revenue — among the largest sources outside of the personal income tax.  Yet, the Obama administration stubbornly clings to a "no new production in our backyard policy" — while blaming oil companies for high prices.

2008: Pelosi blames high gas prices on "oil men in the White House".  Back in 2008 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said, "The price of oil is at the doorstep.  Four dollars plus per gallon for oil is attributed to two oil men in the White House."  Oddly enough, Pelosi is now conspicuously silent about gas prices.  No public comments.  No press conferences.  No interviews.

Are Sky-High Gas Prices Good?  Examine a few revealing past remarks from President Obama and the Cabinet officials who are now in charge of the nation's energy use and oil leases on federal lands.  Then decide whether the current soaring gas prices are supposed to be good or bad.  In 2008, then-Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar — now the secretary of the Department of the Interior in charge of the leasing of federal oil lands — refused to vote for any new offshore drilling.  In a Senate exchange with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Salazar objected to allowing any drilling on America's outer continental shelf — even if gas prices reached $10 a gallon.

Oil and Obama don't mix.  Americans are paying more than $4 a gallon for gas, ExxonMobil announced a 69 percent boost in earnings, and President Barack Obama is struggling with the fact that he can't do much about any of it.

'Change' via executive power grab.  The Environmental Protection Agency has ruled that Shell Oil Co. may not drill for oil this summer in the Arctic Circle off Alaska, where an estimated 27 billion barrels of domestic oil are waiting to be extracted.  Never mind that Shell's already spent nearly $4 billion on the project, including $2.2 billion to Uncle Sam for the leases.  No, the EPA's appeals board said the oil giant had failed to include possible greenhouse-gas emissions from an icebreaking vessel in its calculations and that the project might somehow threaten the health of the 245 people in an Eskimo village 70 miles away.

Listing of lizard may shut down Texas oil.  You can't make this up.  First, a Spotted Owl destroyed the timber industry of the Pacific Northwest, then a minnow turned the most productive agricultural land in the world into a dustbowl, and now, as energy prices spike and the economy sputters, they're going after Texas with a scurrilous reptile.  Specifically, the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard.

Will A Lizard Stop West Texas Oil?  After the harm done by the spotted owl and delta smelt, the listing of a tiny reptile as endangered may be the latest salvo in the war on domestic energy.

Despite $4 gas, Obama boots Shell from Arctic drill site.
EPA Rules Force Shell to Abandon Oil Drilling Plans.  Shell Oil Company has announced it must scrap efforts to drill for oil this summer in the Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of Alaska.  The decision comes following a ruling by the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board to withhold critical air permits. ... The closest village to where Shell proposed to drill is Kaktovik, Alaska.  It is one of the most remote places in the United States.  According to the latest census, the population is 245 and nearly all of the residents are Alaska natives.  The village, which is one square mile, sits right along the shores of the Beaufort Sea, 70 miles away from the proposed off-shore drill site.

Pence rebukes Obama over committing to support Brazilian oil.  Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) is criticizing President Obama for expressing support for Brazilian oil production while limiting American energy output.  "Under his administration, there is a de facto moratorium on oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico," Pence wrote in an op-ed Monday [4/25/2011] in The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind.  "The United States has a drilling ban off both coasts, on Alaska's continental shelf and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."

Obama blames everyone but himself for high gas prices.  The president's energy non-policy of funding solar, wind, and god-knows-what-other kind of power while doing everything to prevent opening new oil fields to exploration and development is not to blame for high gas prices, says the president.

Obama's Fake Energy Policy.  In 1999, Americans paid $90 billion for all their oil, less than 5 percent of what they paid in federal taxes.  At current prices of $108 per barrel, Americans this year will pay over $800 billion for oil, an amount equal to 33 percent of all federal tax revenues, with two thirds of the take going to fill the coffers of foreign regimes.  If current trends continue, there is every prospect that oil prices will more than triple by Obama's 2025 target date, leaving us paying more for oil than we pay to the federal government.

U.S. Gov't Agency Plans $2.84 Billion Loan for Oil Refinery — In Colombia.  The U.S. Export-Import Bank, an independent agency of the federal government, is now planning a $2.84 billion loan for a massive project to expand and upgrade an oil refinery — in Cartagena, Colombia.  The money would go to Reficar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecopetrol, the Colombian national oil company.

How we will end up paying $6 a gallon for gas:  Someday, you will be pumping gas, staring at the digital numbers racing by, and you'll wonder:  "How could I possibly be paying $6 a gallon for gasoline?"  You also will be wondering why so many of your friends and relatives are still looking for work.  Or why America is more dependent on foreign oil than ever before.  If you look back to today, you'll remember why:  President Obama's de facto moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Desperation Breeds Familiar Energy Gimmicks.  When lawmakers were home for spring recess this month, they faced an earful of outrage as gas prices near $4 per gallon, well ahead of summer driving season.  Some members of Congress told their constituents that they are pounding on the administration to jumpstart offshore drilling in order to relieve the pressure at the pump. ... Opponents of American energy development on Capitol Hill are becoming increasingly desperate to deflect criticism against anti-drilling policies which the majority of Americans realize have contributed to this price surge.

Obama promised higher energy costs. He wasn't kidding.  President Obama held a town hall meeting Wednesday at a wind turbine manufacturing plant in Fairless Hills, Pa., to promote his Big Green energy agenda.  Not everyone in the audience was receptive to his message. ... "There is no magic formula to driving gas prices down," the president also said Wednesday.  Maybe so, but Obama has figured out a pretty good formula for driving gas prices up.

Obama's energy hoax:  The emphasis was on a vast expansion of "clean energy."  The familiar pipe dreams were unfurled again:  Biofuels.  Further increases in fuel economy requirements.  Electric cars.  Flexible-fuel vehicles.  High-speed rail.  Public transit.  Sure all nifty ideas, their regulatory quirks notwithstanding.  And all are costly, many to the point of wiping out any possible benefits.  If the president sought increased oil production to hold down prices, he'd do a lot more good.

The President's New Energy Plan:  If you want to lower the price of something, the best solution is to produce more of it.  This is basic Econ 101 stuff.  But nowhere in the administration's new energy proposals, presented by the president this Wedesday in a speech at Georgetown University, is the idea of pumping more oil in the United States addressed, except to say it is impossible.

Obama's overseas oil:  It's no surprise that gas prices are on the rise as President Obama returns from his truncated excursion to Rio.  The commander in chief has shown more interest in helping Brazilians develop their energy resources than he has in helping ease the pain of Americans stung by spiraling prices at the pump.  Three months into the new administration, Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, received approval for at least $2 billion in U.S. government-backed loans.

Soros Wins Under Obama's Energy Policies.  Abby Wisse Schacter, in the New York Post, notes that the Obama administration is clamping down on oil and gas development in America (both onshore and offshore) but is hell-bent on helping other nation's tap their resources and points out that such help is being showered specifically in New Guinea, of all places.

Obama administration's energy stagnation.  It is starting to look obvious that the administration doesn't want oil exploration and extraction at home while it is promoting the same exploration and extraction elsewhere — specifically Brazil and New Guinea. ... [But] this isn't about a single piece of equipement, [sic] it is about wanting to retard offshore drilling in America, period.

George Soros: Demagoat.  Another interesting note:  Soros has a lot invested in Brazilian oil production.  His puppet, Obama announced that the U.S. would be investing and trading in Brazil's oil development.  Of course, Obama doesn't want to drill here in the U.S.  The connection is very clear.  Since Soros is out to destroy the USA like he has other countries, all of the organizations he funds are nothing but puppets for him, just like Obama.  Obama went to Brazil to protect the Soros investment there in Petrobras.

Wrecking a Nation.  In 1985, the U.S. imported 25 percent of its oil usage.  Today, it's 61 percent.  And still we are placing restrictions on increases in domestic production, both for oil and other sources of energy.  A few days back, President Obama, rather than sticking around a couple hours to explain to the American people or to the U.S. Congress why we were going to war in Libya, flew off to Brazil to hand out a permit to allow deep sea oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico to Brazil's state-run oil company, Petrobras.  Capitalist companies in America need not apply.

A Man-Made Energy Crisis.  Gas is well over $4 a gallon in most places in California — and soaring elsewhere as well.  But are such high energy prices good or bad?  That should be a stupid question.  Yet it is not, when the Obama administration has stopped new domestic offshore oil exploration in many American waters, curbed oil leases in the West, and keeps oil-rich areas of Alaska exempt from drilling.

Obama Needs to go Back to Energy School.  The Administration's "logic" regarding oil leases is liable to drive one insane.  The claim is that oil companies pay billions of dollars to the federal government to obtain the right to drill, and then purposely don't drill in order to drive up the price of oil.  But wouldn't it be cheaper to not bid on the lands in the first place?  And why is the oil industry in favor of expanded access to drill offshore and in ANWR, if their nefarious plot is to keep oil off the market and push up prices?  Obviously the whole thing makes no sense.  The reason the oil industry doesn't extract oil from certain leased land is that oil isn't distributed evenly across the globe.

Stall, Baby, Stall.  Many Americans fear that President Obama's new energy proposal is once again "all talk and no real action," this time in an effort to shore up fading support for the Democrats' job-killing cap-and-trade (a.k.a. cap-and-tax) proposals.  Behind the rhetoric lie new drilling bans and leasing delays; soon to follow are burdensome new environmental regulations.

Full-Throttle Drill, Drill, Drill.  In the fact sheet that accompanied the speech, there's a lot of talk about "responsible development" for natural gas fracking chemicals, state regulators, tapping experts, the environmental community, and protecting public health and the environment.  In other words, the standards for new drilling could be so high that there won't be that much new drilling.  The president doesn't discuss the role of the EPA, which is going after coal, natural gas, and oil.  And while he says he'll speed up new leases and permits, he then blames oil companies for not using their old leases.  That's an old saw of an argument that neglects to mention dry holes.

Barack Obama's Oil Lease LIES!  How do you know which parts of Obama's energy speech were either lies or misrepresentations?  The parts where his mouth was moving.  This morning President Obama outline his energy policy which is comprised of trying to pull the energy policy wool over America's eyes.

Lawmakers, Executives Slam Obama for Boosting Brazil's Offshore Drilling.  Republican lawmakers and oil industry executives are slamming President Obama for offering to help Brazil expand offshore drilling while U.S. production struggles to get back on its feet in the wake of the BP spill.  The president, on the first leg of his trip to Latin America, said in Brazil over the weekend that his administration wants to assist the Brazilian government "with technology and support" in developing its oil reserves — a black gold mine he said could hold twice as much oil as U.S. deposits.

President Obama's Crony Capitalism.  The president's announcement that his administration would lend billions of dollars to develop Brazil's offshore oil reserves left many Americans flabbergasted.  After all, he had issued two drilling moratoriums in U.S. waters and then was declared in contempt of court for defying a federal judge who ordered the moratoriums reversed.  Some wondered if the president wasn't intentionally acting against U.S. interests.  Others wanted to know if pleasing political campaign contributors was the idea.

Obama Boldly Continues his Energy Deception.  President Obama finally held a press conference on the subject of rising gas prices last week that required anyone who has been watching his administration's war on domestic energy to suspend disbelief.  Instead of announcing a reversal of his anti-domestic energy policies, he explained that on his watch, oil production is actually up and imports are down.  What the President failed to explain was that his energy policies have nothing to do with this, and that the U.S. would actually be producing more oil today if his administration had not been doing everything in its power to stop domestic energy production since they walked into office in January of 2009 when gasoline was $1.80 a gallon.

Solving US Energy Problems:  The big problem is the Democratic agenda to destroy US oil.  Currently, this agenda is well illustrated in the Gulf of Mexico.  BP's Macondo Prospect well, which blew out in the Gulf of Mexico last year, was reported by the federal government to be producing 62,000 barrels of oil per day.  At the present oil price, that is $2.2 Billion a year.  This well may have been the largest oil well in the history of the world.  Yet, it was plugged and abandoned, and the federal government would not allow the development of the large oil reservoir it was in, which may have created thousands of new jobs.  No other nation on earth would do that to an oil well which may have been the largest oil well in world history.

Exploiting the Japanese.  [Scroll down]  Then the President proceeded to take credit for record levels of domestic oil and gas production in 2009, the year in which he was inaugurated.  The last I heard, oil and gas drilling has a lead time of at least five years, with exploration, leasing, licensing, and actual production taking as long as twenty years.  Yet Obama suggests he had something to do with 2009 production levels?  What he has done, with his Gulf drilling ban and restrictions on East Coast and Alaska drilling, is to set future U.S. oil and gas production back by years.

Drilling Unlikely to Lower Oil Prices, Energy Information Chief Says.  Richard Newell, administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), said that while oil prices are likely to stay above average for the remainder of 2011, it is unlikely that an increase in domestic oil production would dramatically affect oil prices in either the short-term or the long-term.  Newell, a political appointee, was tapped to head the EIA by President Barack Obama in mid-2009.

The Editor says...
This man clearly does not understand supply and demand, and obviously knows nothing about the oil industry.

An Energy Policy Designed to Fail.  Gasoline prices are on the rise again, mostly due to a combination of turmoil in the Middle East and increased worldwide demand that has driven crude prices up over $100 per barrel.  When refiners switch to EPA-required summer blends starting on May 1, gasoline prices will increase even more.  The left understands that the harder consumers are hit at the pump, the more sympathetic they are to calls for more domestic oil exploration.  In an attempt to head off the issue, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other leftists have fallen back on a tired, discredited canard:  the "use it or lose it" approach.

Who benefits when Obama puts federal lands off-limits?  It sounds like a logical argument until it runs into the reality provided by the answer to two basic questions — How much federal land is actually off-limits and who benefits from those lands being kept off limits?  Based on government data, the answer to the first question is this:  Ninety four percent of federal onshore lands are off-limits to oil and gas exploration, while 97 percent of offshore federal lands are off-limits.  So virtually all of the public lands now owned by the American people but controlled by the federal government isn't even eligible to be placed on the auction block for bidding by U.S. companies for energy exploration rights leasing.

They're Not Serious.  No-drill Democrats are looking wan under the bright light of rising gasoline prices.  So what do they do?  They retreat to their worst ideas and claim they've brought a fresh set of solutions to the table.

Green Goons.  It's getting so people are afraid to drive more than 150 miles for fear that they won't be able to afford the gas to get home again.  Still, President Obama refuses to allow oil development either on government-owned land or just off our coasts.  We have enough petroleum in the ground right here in the United States to last us centuries but Obama, the Democrats and their green goons won't let us get at it for fear there might be a spill and a sea gull might get oil on its wings.  It's all right though to send $1,000,000,000 a day to Muslim countries who use much of it to finance jihad against us in their radical quest to destroy western civilization.  Our liberal Democrat rulers want fossil-fuel energy prices to go up in hopes that Americans will turn to solar panels, windmills and Chevy Volts.

Why We Need to Drill Here and Drill Now.  Upon taking office, President Obama's Department of Interior, led by Ken Salazar, began taking deliberate steps to reduce domestic drilling.  From canceling oil and gas leases throughout the American West to banning offshore production to refusing to issue deep water drilling permits, the Obama administration has imposed virtually the same regulatory agenda that Americas soundly rejected in 2008.  The result of these policies is also the same as last time.  Oil prices above $100 per barrel for the first time since 2008.

Our Man-Made Energy Crisis.  [Scroll down]  What's missing is a coherent U.S. energy policy.  At best, the Obama administration's approach to U.S. domestic oil and gas production can be characterized as a strategy of ambivalence, an uneasy equilibrium between desire to lessen the role of fossil fuels and the reality of their necessity in a functioning U.S. economy.  Last year's Deepwater Horizon tragedy in the Gulf tilted the current administration's policies to an even more punitive posture vis-a-vis domestic energy production. ... The time to rethink and redesign our entire energy strategy is now.

War On The Poor.  Those on the left who say they care most for the least fortunate see the soaring price of gasoline as positive — despite the fact that those with the lowest incomes are hurt the worst.  Since January 2009, when President Obama was sworn in, the average price of a gallon of regular-grade gas has rocketed from less than $2 to $3.53.  During this period, Obama's administration has placed an illegal ban on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, refused to permit deeper exploration into our rich fossil fuel reserves and pushed $2.3 billion in a useless green energy initiative.

Murkowski calls for new energy policy, more domestic drilling.  Amid rising energy prices, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is urging the formulation of a national energy policy that expands U.S. oil drilling and creates alternatives to reduce consumption, both of which would provide greater control over energy prices.  In the weekly Republican radio address, the ranking member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said her party is prepared to "end the de facto moratorium on new development in the Gulf of Mexico and parts of the Rocky Mountain West."

Murkowski uses rising gas prices to call for opening Alaska's oil fields.  Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), citing rising gas prices, called on the administration Thursday [3/10/2011] to open up Alaska's oil reserves for further exploration.  "We are the only country that has identified a huge resource base and then absolutely refused to use it," said Murkowski, referring to her state's massive oil reserves that remain untapped because of their designation as a wildlife refuge.  "We need to develop a coherent national energy policy."

Oil Hypocrisy.  As the White House goes to court to defend its self-imposed drilling moratorium, it floats the idea of tapping our strategic petroleum reserve to lower rising prices.  How about the oil offshore and in Alaska?

Feds: No new drilling permits, but we'll tap into Strategic Petroleum Reserve!  Oil prices have been on the rise recently, with supply worries from the unrest in the Middle East pushing prices past $106 a barrel this morning, the highest in two years.  Americans are feeling the sting of an average $3.50 a gallon price at the pump, with prices as high as $5 a gallon in some areas such as L.A.  The Obama administration has issued contradictory statements on the high oil prices.

As Gas Prices Rise, Is It Time to 'Drill, Baby, Drill'?.  With unrest and turmoil in oil-producing Middle East and North African countries upon which America heavily relies for our domestic oil consumption and with gas prices inching toward $4.00 a gallon, now is the time to drastically increase America's own oil production.  Even before the Middle East and North African government meltdowns, many experts were predicting $4 a gallon gas in 2011 and $5 a gallon gas in 2012.

The End of the Drilling Permitorium? Guess Again.  After 314 days of the United States government holding the nation's oil industry hostage in a fashion which hearkened back to the Carter administration, the first deep water drilling permit in the Gulf of Mexico has been issued.  Or has it?  As The Hayride points out, this wasn't actually a new permit.

Gas Price Increases Are Intentional.  Gas prices continue to go up.  When George W. Bush was President of the United States, Democrats constantly demanded he open the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help lower prices.  Some even wanted a temporary suspension of the gas tax.  With Obama?  Crickets. ... The left could use gas prices as a political wedge issue against George W. Bush because they knew he did not actually want higher gas prices.  Barack Obama, on the other hand, wants higher gas prices.  His Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, wants the same.

Drilling Here, Drilling Now: It's Just Common Sense.  One of the problems we face right now is the uncertainty in Libya, an OPEC nation that has cut its normal daily output of 1.6 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) to just over 700,000, amid the political tensions surrounding Muammar Gaddafi.  What this means for humanity as a whole is that there is now less oil on the world's market to meet the demand around the globe.  What this means for you and I as Americans is that our refusal to "drill here, drill now" is catching up to us with a vengeance.

Obama Making Us More Dependent on Foreign Oil.  Expectations of political instability in the North Africa and the Middle East are factors which cause the price of crude oil to rise, but the reality is the Obama Administration is doing serious damage to our essential domestic oil industry.  The Administration is making our nation more and more dependent on imported foreign crude oil through increased regulations, taxes, and litigation.

Barack Obama repeating Jimmy Carter's mistakes.  You need to watch only a few minutes of cable news analysis to realize just how ludicrous our national energy policies have become.  As escalating tensions and chaos unfold in Egypt, Libya and other Middle Eastern nations, one energy analyst suggested that if Libyan oil supplies were to fail, the United States would rely on Saudi Arabia for its oil needs.  If that statement alone doesn't put U.S. leaders on red alert, the looming national energy crisis may soon become reality.

Obama: Lost in Translation.  On February 2, 2011, his administration was found to be in contempt of court, for knowingly and intentionally defying the court's injunction of its enforcement of a ban on oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.  And just weeks before the issuance of that contempt citation, a Federal court judge in Florida ruled ObamaCare is unconstitutional in its entirety.  In his order the judge held that his ruling was tantamount to an injunction, and he was proceeding on the well-established presumption that government officials will conform their conduct to rulings.  The President, whose oath of office requires him to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution, nevertheless appears to have accorded the Florida judge's ruling the same level of respect and compliance as he did the order enjoining his "moratorium" on oil and gas drilling in the Gulf.

Barbour says Obama cheers for higher gas prices.  Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a potential presidential contender, accused the Obama administration Wednesday [3/2/2011] of favoring a run-up in gas prices to prod consumers to buy more fuel-efficient cars.

Obama is AWOL in Oil Crisis.  We have a major oil crisis unfolding now and where's Obama? ... We now, this week, have oil prices busting through $100 a barrel.  This will create major havoc to our already anemic economy.  How did we get here?  Our president has a moratorium on nearly all domestic oil production:  we can't drill off our coasts, nor Alaska and certainly not the gulf.  We can't build nuclear power plants, dam rivers, explore for natural gas or mine coal.  We're stuck with windmills and failing solar power companies — companies that can't even stay in business after billions in taxpayer subsidies.  This is an energy policy written by hippies.

America's Enemies Don't Want U.S. Drilling.  With oil prices shooting through the roof, the nation's failure to ramp up domestic energy production is baffling.  But one thing we know for sure: America's enemies are actively agitating against drilling in the U.S.

The Editor says...
Apparently some of America's enemies work in the White House.

Obama administration 'hostile to oil states,' Alaska Gov. Parnell says.  In a speech at the National Press Club, the Republican governor called the federal government "openly hostile" to oil-producing states, particularly for the delays in allowing Shell to drill exploratory wells on leases off Alaska's northern coast that the company purchased in 2008.  "If it looks like a moratorium and walks like a moratorium ... maybe it is," said Parnell, who is in Washington this weekend for the National Governor's Association winter meeting.

Now Can We Drill In Alaska?  Alaska's governor attacks President Obama's hostility to oil states and warns that ever-higher oil prices will doom economic recovery.  The polar bears are doing fine.  The American economy is not.

The inflation disaster is near.  Five dollar a gallon gas will shatter the Federal Reserve's tightly constrained lid on inflation and accelerate the other half our long anticipated "double dip" recession. ... 91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the production of American-made oil and gas, while 86% of House Democrats have historically voted against increasing the production of American-made oil and gas.

After Obama, the Deluge.  Gas prices in many parts of the country are nearing $4 a gallon; it could get even worse as unrest spreads throughout the oil-exporting Middle East.  Yet the Obama administration once again seems to see no crisis.  It has curtailed new leases for offshore oil exploration for seven years and exempted thousands of acres in the West from new drilling.  It will not reconsider opening up small areas of Alaska with known large oil reserves.

The left's drive toward $8 gas.  A perfect storm of foreign and domestic policy choices by the Obama administration has paved the way for European-style energy prices to arrive on these shores.  Far from being alarmed, President Obama sees the prospect of $8 a gallon gas as an opportunity. ... Making energy more expensive is exactly what the administration's "cap and trade" scheme is meant to do.

Obama's Solar Nightmare:  The Obama administration has tried to kill off the oil industry. Offshore moratoriums have been unilaterally imposed by executive orders and justified using scientific panel studies that were misrepresented — if not distorted — by the administration.  The drilling permitting process has been afflicted with sclerosis.  Federal lands are becoming less and less available for development.  Obama does not like carbon; he boasted during the campaign that he would bankrupt coal power plants and that his policies would necessarily boost the price of power.  Those words were ignored by much of the media, in thrall to the man they so wanted to win.

A Shale Of A Difference.  The brightest hope for America's energy independence has been shut down by an Interior Department that says it wants to review the rules for leases.  It really wants to kill off oil altogether.

Increased Energy Development Will Lead to More Jobs, Faster Recovery.  Research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie recently released a startling new report analyzing the devastating economic impact of the nearly $73 billion in proposed tax increases upon the nation's oil and gas industry.  In contrast, allowing access to energy resources currently off limits would provide massive boosts to production, employment levels, and government revenue.  Onerous federal regulation currently prevents access to oil and gas reserves in areas of Alaska, the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic and Pacific Outer Continental Shelves.  The difference between allowing access to these vast reserves versus continued regulation and following through with the nearly $73 billion of proposed tax increases could not be more drastic.

Obama's Oil War:  Oil prices are surging to levels that will soon crimp economic growth.  And what's our government doing about it?  Just making it worse. ... It's becoming more and more obvious that Obama's energy policy is meant to raise prices by making fossil fuels harder to produce and use.  Indeed, the White House has followed a deliberate policy of attacking Americans' use of energy, turning it into something of a moral crusade.

Driving US Families Into Poverty.  The Obama Administration still hasn't gotten the message voters sent Washington on November 2.  The lame duck session and 111th Congress finally ended, without the White House getting key items on its wish list.  So now, the Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department intend to impose costly, job-killing, economy-strangling new rules for power plants and refineries, and implement more land-grabs that will lock up additional millions of acres and more billions of dollars of American energy.  Their goal is to end the hydrocarbon and nuclear era in America — and force us to convert to "renewable" energy.

Auditing the President's Oil Spill Commission.  The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (the Oil Spill Commission OSC) just finished its last set of public meetings as it prepares to submit its report to the president, due January 12, 2011.  There is good news and bad news.  The good news is that its report will be released after the Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in January.  The bad news is that left to its own devices and predispositions, the administration will likely do to the offshore oil industry what the Carter administration did to the nuclear power industry in the wake of the Three-Mile Island accident:  effectively destroy a critical energy industry in which America is the world technology leader.

Oil Producers Bullied.  Department of Interior officials seem to take sadistic pleasure in badgering oil companies.  The latest example involves a new agency created to levy untold millions of dollars in fines if companies don't kowtow to the new bureaucracy.  The agency's head gave the tasteless warning:  "If they cut corners they could end up paying enough to quickly take care of the federal deficit."  The oil industry now pays $37 million a day in royalties.  That's over $13 billion a year for our near empty U.S. Treasury and other state and special accounts.  The comment about collecting royalties enough to pay off the federal deficit might have been said in jest.  But petroleum officials aren't laughing.

New Starve-The-Beast Plan:  Stop Fed Printing Press.  Capital Hill has been exploring the potential for a political backlash against renewed Federal Reserve quantitative easing with a focus on one particular set of risks:  a jump in oil prices even as the economy continues to sputter.  Oil prices have climbed back to $83 a barrel, fueled in part by a Fed-inspired weaker dollar, though demand growth in China and other emerging markets is the biggest reason.

China's Will To Drill.  The administration lifts the Gulf drilling moratorium in time for the election, but it's not as good as it sounds.  Meanwhile, China buys up Texas oil land to develop the energy reserves we won't.

The Very Dangerous Folly of Obamanomics.  [Scroll down]  From here, then-Senator Obama went on to introduce his new "energy" proposal.  As a remedy for rising gasoline prices, he wanted to raise taxes on oil companies, and use that "extra" tax revenue to give "working Americans" a thousand-dollar voucher that they could use to make gasoline purchases. ... Senator Obama simply portrayed the Exxon Mobil company as a "villain" for earning a "record profit," and he was going to be the "good guy" who would legislate money away from the oil company and give it to "us."

Barack Obama Secures His Grip on the Oil Industry.  [Scroll down]  So why, then, does this country, especially the Obama administration, continue to play ball with [Hugo] Chavez?  And, more interestingly, why was the Chavez rhetoric towards THIS White House so vanilla by comparison to the vile language hurled at Bush?  The obvious answer of Socialist brotherhood comes to mind; after all, the handshake viewed 'round the world is household news by now.  No, there's something deeper here; something much more complex — even sinister, perhaps.

Arctic Drilling Suspended.  The Obama Administration has done an about face on drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean.  Just days after its Justice Department defended Shell Oil's plan to drill five exploratory wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off the coast of Alaska, the Interior Department suspended the operation.

Obama is Strangling Big Oil.  There was no "official" announcement.  Not in so many words.  Connect the dots of what has occurred in just the past two weeks to deep-water oil drilling, shallow-water drilling, and oil refining.  The effect is the same.  Barack Obama is shutting down Big Oil.

A Few Questions for President Obama.  [Scroll down]  America is not running out of oil.  It is running out of places the government allows us to drill. ... Companies have been drilling in deep waters, because most onshore and shallow water areas are off limits.

Empty rhetoric, empty gas tanks.  The Army Corps of Engineers recently denied ConocoPhillips' permit to construct a drill pad in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, threatening 400 construction and 100 operating jobs and new production that could extend the life of the trans-Alaska pipeline.  If this shameful abuse of regulatory power could be used to stop routine oil and gas development of leases already granted by the federal government — in an area already designated a National Petroleum Reserve — then how optimistic could anyone be about this administration's new energy policy?

Getting Gas Wrong:  In an economy full of problems there are still a few high points.  One of them, as you may have noticed if you pay attention to your utility bills, is that natural gas prices are relatively low. ... We shouldn't have to worry about this sector of the economy, but there is a dark cloud looming on the horizon in the form of yet another environmental initiative that the Obama administration is pushing forward, one that has the potential to cut domestic natural gas production, cost us jobs and revenue and force energy prices upward.

Drilling plan opens new areas but halts Alaska sales.  President Obama's new offshore drilling plan opens up some new areas for oil and gas exploration but also cancels some Alaska lease sales planned for the next two years, putting billions of barrels of oil out of reach for now.  The long-awaited plan, announced Wednesday, expands drilling opportunities off the coast of the southern Atlantic seaboard, in the Gulf of Mexico and some parts of Alaska, but halts other future sales in Alaska's Chukchi and Beaufort seas that drilling advocates say could account for far more oil than the new areas the president proposes to open up.

Obama's EPA stifles new energy gains.  [Scroll down]  Last week, it was Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announcing that no new permits will be issued for outer continental shelf development until 2014 at the earliest.  Salazar has also used bureaucratic obfuscation to delay new energy development on Western lands.  There are billions of recoverable barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas in those areas, enough to put the United States well on the way to complete energy independence.  Obama is instead spending billions of tax dollars on renewable energy resources that can't possibly supply even a fourth of this nation's critical energy needs for many decades to come.

The 'necessarily skyrocket' energy strategy comes to Hawaii.  Bright ideas from Hawaii's legislature:  House members introduced House Bill 2421, a "barrel tax" or "carbon tax bill", which will increase the tax on unrefined petroleum by $1 per barrel.  Their reasoning, they want to discourage Hawaii's "dependence" on fossil fuels through taxation and encourage renewable energy use and creation.

Obama's budget reveals true agenda on energy.  The budget shows that revenues collected from new offshore leasing will decline over the next five years — from $1.5 billion in 2009, to only $413 million in fiscal 2015.  If the president planned on expanding offshore drilling, revenues would be increasing, not decreasing.

Obama surrenders gulf oil to Moscow.  The Obama administration is poised to ban offshore oil drilling on the outer continental shelf until 2012 or beyond.  Meanwhile, Russia is making a bold strategic leap to begin drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico.  While the United States attempts to shift gears to alternative fuels to battle the purported evils of carbon emissions, Russia will erect oil derricks off the Cuban coast.

Obama's a pain at the pump.  Get ready to pay a lot more than $3 a gallon to fill up your car during peak driving periods this spring and summer.  More pain at the pump is the inevitable result of the Obama administration's carrot-and-stick approach to dealing with America's energy woes.  Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last week announced new leases for offshore oil and gas drilling, which will take effect in 2012.  While news reports characterized the decision as a bold response to the nation's energy needs, reality is quite to the contrary.

The Obama Moratorium:  No offshore drilling while he's in office.  The Obama administration's six-month delay in approving new offshore drilling leases in federal waters will become a new three-year ban, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar quietly told reporters last Friday [3/5/2010].  Which means that no new oil and gas leases will be approved during President Obama's term even though two-thirds of the American public supports such activity, according to a December 2009 Rasmussen poll.

Chortling At Chu.  Our secretary of energy pushes bio-refineries and windmills to oil executives at an energy conference as the administration announces a three-year offshore drilling ban.  This is a policy for economic suicide.

Report:  Oil-and-gas drilling bans will cut GDP by $2.36 trillion.  This should provide some ammo for industry groups pushing the White House to allow wider drilling:  A new report says U.S. oil-and-gas drilling bans will increase consumer energy costs and decrease cumulative U.S. GDP by $2.36 trillion over the next two decades.  That's an average annual GDP drop of roughly a half a percent.

Drilling Ban To Cost Trillions.  A new study shows that our reluctance to develop domestic energy will cost the beleaguered U.S. economy trillions in opportunity costs, reduce our gross domestic product and increase our trade deficit.

Our National No-Energy Policy:  Thomas Pyle, the president of the Institute for Energy Research, recently offered a chilling description of our national energy focus.  "When it comes to paving the way for the responsible development of homegrown, job-creating energy resources, no administration in history has done more to ensure producers do less."

How to spell Obama energy policy: 'D-e-l-a-y'.  The need to develop America's bountiful fossil fuel resources will only intensify as our economy grows and those of emerging world economic powers like China and India similarly expand.  But President Obama is moving national energy policy in exactly the opposite direction.  Instead of aiding exploration and development of available fossil fuel resources, the administration appears to be doing everything possible to slow or even stop it.

Follow the Money.  As we have noted many times, the United States is the only country in the world that deliberately fails to develop its own energy resources.  Other than instituting price controls, this is the single most destructive economic policy that a country can pursue, which is why no one does it except us.

The Obama Energy Fiasco.  If the president wishes to free America from dependence on foreign oil, he should be encouraging the production of reliable energy supplies in this country.  What has he done to encourage more production of coal, oil and gas, and nuclear energy?  The answer is that he has done nothing. ... Not only has the president done nothing to promote new supplies of energy, but he has also done much to impede them.

Alaskan Oil Abundance Versus Washington's Wasted Billions.  Analysts are already forecasting 100-dollar-a-barrel oil within a year.  Yet the Obama administration is still blocking offshore drilling in America — even though it was approved by Congress last year — and wants to raise taxes on oil companies.  Several years are needed to get major new production on line, even without anticipated environmental lawsuits designed to stymie or at least harass and delay any drilling of new wells off of America's east and west coasts.  In Alaska, we have a pipeline which could flow another 1.5 million barrels per day — worth nearly $50 billion per year — from vast oil resources waiting to be drilled.

No Substitute For Fossil Fuels.  Earlier this year, Congress approved a scheme to pour $80 billion — on top of the tens of billions already spent — into renewables.  A government report released last week indicates the money will be wasted.  Renewable energy is the shiny gem that everyone wants but no one can have.

Forget 'Peak Oil' — Drill, BP, Drill.  Ignoring peak-oil Cassandras, BP has made another giant oil find in the Gulf of Mexico.  We're not running out of oil.  Our government just doesn't want us to look for it.

Foolishly Choosing Bears Over Barrels.  [Al] Gore is just plain wrong.  Yet the myth he perpetuates has dealt a critical blow to our hopes for true energy independence.  Despite ever-increasing numbers and demonstrated adaptability, the famous Knut the polar bear and his kind are still said to be endangered.  That in turn has prompted the federal government to designate 200,541 square miles off the coast of Alaska as critical habitat for polar bears, effectively killing hopes to exploit the vast energy riches of the American Arctic.  The world polar bear population is at a modern high and growing.

A Crude Reality.  To get to the bottom of what's wrong with the 1,400-page energy bill passed by the House of Representatives, you have to dig deeper than Canada's tar sands. ... The greener we are, the less secure we're likely to be.  Meaning, we either can be green or we can be less dependent on oil from terrorist-sponsoring states.  But under the current energy bill, we can't be both.

Running on empty.  American energy policy is in limbo.  "Drill, baby, drill" still articulates a good policy direction, but the Obama administration is outsourcing that policy, and our tax dollars, to Brazil.  This is all while the White House is ignoring public opinion by blocking domestic energy production.  The mind boggles when trying to figure out why the energy issue is still at issue at all.

Seeing Chukchi.  Back in July [2008], ... it was thought that Chukchi's waters northwest of Alaska's landmass held 30 billion cubic feet of natural gas.  Today, Science magazine reports that the U.S. Geological Survey now finds it holds more than anyone thought — 1.6 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered gas, or 30% of the world's supply and 83 billion barrels of undiscovered oil, 4% of the global conventional resources.  That's enough U.S. energy to achieve self-sufficiency and never worry about it as a national security question again.  The only thing left to do is drill.

Judge blocks drilling on refuge.  A federal judge has indefinitely blocked gas and oil drilling on a wildlife refuge that sits next to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in south-central Colorado.  U.S. District Court Judge Walker Miller on Thursday [9/3/2009] granted a preliminary injunction, ruling environmental groups presented adequate evidence that drilling would cause irreparable injury to Colorado's Baca National Wildlife Refuge.

Lost In An Energy Wilderness.  Earlier this year, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar canceled 77 Utah oil and gas leases that had gone through seven years of studies, negotiations and land-use planning.  They were rejected because temporary drilling operations might be "visible" from several national parks more than a mile away.  We are not making this up.  Some of these parcels are in or near the Green River Formation, an oil-rich region in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming that's been called the "Persia of the West."

Cap and Trade spells disaster.  [Scroll down]  To see how extreme HR 2454 is, one need only go to page 106-107 of the bill.  "Congress finds that the status of oil as a strategic commodity which derives from its domination of the transportation sector presents a clear and present danger to the United States."  With this one statement, House Democrats have declared war on the oil industry.  Currently, oil is supplying the vast majority of this country's energy requirements.  While we need to continue to diversify our energy supplies, we cannot ignore reality.

Environmentalist Economic Strangulation.  The Green Left must be thrilled with the new Obama/Pelosi/Reid (OPR) troika in charge of the federal government.  Three times already, the troika has blocked the development of domestic oil resources.  During his first week in office, President Obama rescinded his predecessor's executive order permitting drilling on the continental shelf and in the Green River Formation.  Both areas contain abundant oil — especially Green River (under Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah), which has recoverable shale-oil reserves three times the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.  Several weeks later, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar unilaterally canceled 77 oil and gas leases in Utah, on the grounds that (I kid you not) someone might catch a glimpse of temporary drilling equipment from the national park that sits more than a mile away.

Drill, Drill, Drill.  Onshore and offshore drilling restrictions for oil and natural gas have to be removed.  Deregulate the energy sector.  Open the door to nuclear power.  Drill the shale regions for natural gas.  Exploration has dried up in the new Obama environment, which is so very anti-fossil-fuel and anti-nuke.  If we are going to power our way to economic growth, fossil fuels and nuclear energy have to play key roles.  Alternative-fuel technologies may grow up, but that's gonna take several decades.  Right now they're about 2 percent of our power.  That's all.

CBS Slams Exxon for Not Drilling More.  After all the media hand-wringing the past few months over imploding financial institutions, they might praise ExxonMobil for taking care of it shareholders first and keeping ample reserve funds, rather than running on risky investments and toxic assets.  "Consumer advocate" Dan Weiss closed the story saying, "Big oil is swimming in profits with money drained from the pockets of American families."  CBS mentioned he was a senior fellow at the "Center For American Progress" yet neglected to mention that it is an avowedly liberal think tank.  The founder of CFAP is former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta.

Cognitive Ideological Dissonance on Capitol Hill.  Speaking of energy, we can't help but give more attention to a recent press release from some of the Senate's leading liberals.  Charles Schumer, Byron Dorgan, Bernie Sanders, Bob Casey and Mary Landrieu are demanding that President Bush tell OPEC nations to increase their oil supplies or risk losing arms deals with the United States.  The Senators say U.S. consumers need the price relief that only increased oil production can bring.  Yes, that Senator Schumer and that Senator Dorgan, both of whom voted against increasing U.S. oil production because they couldn't abide drilling across 1% of Alaska's wilderness.

1.5 TRILLION barrels, locked up
U.S. Geological Survey ups estimate of Piceance Basin oil shale by 53%.  The Piceance Basin of northwest Colorado probably holds about 53 percent more oil-shale resources than previously estimated, the U.S. Geological Survey said Thursday [4/2/2009].  It was the federal geology and mapping agency's first reassessment of in-place oil-shale resources in the basin in 20 years.  In 1989, USGS said the Piceance Basin held the equivalent of about 1 trillion barrels of oil in its oil-shale resources.  Now, it says the basin has an estimated 1.525 trillion barrels of in-place oil-shale resources.

Big Oil Bites Back.  Wednesday [5/27/2009], Chevron was descended upon by a zoo-full of San Francisco leftists pushing rain forest sentimentalism, Burma, and other pet causes dear to the no-soap crowd.  They journeyed all the way to San Ramon, Calif. to shout "Shame on you!" and "No blood for oil" and worse yet to make demands on the company. ... The real aim of all these attacks is to end these companies' world leadership in oil extraction.  The green groups want to put an end to what the oil companies do best, from finding oil in the world's most hostile climates like the Arctic Sea, to extracting oil from abandoned wells, to drilling oil 12 miles through salt walls under the sea.  The ultimate goal is less oil to power American industry and to maintain the quality of private life.

Obama budget rescinds oil, gas industry tax breaks.  The oil and gas industry is taking a hard hit in President Barack Obama's proposed budget.  According to details released Thursday about the 2010 budget, the plan would rescind tax breaks at a cost to the industry of $52.4 billion over the next 10 years.

Drill, Ivan, Drill.  Oil prices have risen to a six-month high on the prospect of economic recovery.  Russia plans floating reactors to power Arctic drilling.  We plan to do nothing to increase supply.

The Next Oil Shock:  The current recession has wiped out demand growth for the last four years.  Oil prices have tumbled $100 a barrel or more from their high point.  Spare production capacity is expected to be 6.5 million barrels per day through 2009.  Anticipating a robust future, other countries such as China and Brazil have continued to look for oil while we continue to research ... switch grass.

An End to Dependence on Middle East Oil.  Today, America imports two-thirds of its oil at a cost of $300 billion per year, much of it from politically unstable, Middle East countries which control 45% of the world's oil, overall.  This is occurring despite the existence of bountiful, untapped oil resources within the United States.  Developing these resources could free America from imports, create badly needed, oil-production jobs and meet U.S. energy demand for the next 200 years.  With nearly three-fourths of Americans favoring increased energy exploration, the only obstacle standing in the way of our energy independence is a lack of political vision and will.

Offshore Oil Drilling Ban Will Be Restored 'By Any Means Necessary,' Democratic Congressman Says.  "When we talk about drilling, the new thing we have to think about is the Arctic," said [Rep. Jay] Inslee.  "There is a dangerous irony occurring.  We are drilling, burning oil, sending CO2 up into the atmosphere, creating global warming — and it's melting the Arctic making it possible for people to drill."  "Now there is this gold rush to start punching oil wells in a place we just desecrated because of global warming," said Inslee.  "That's one place we have to get a new moratorium where there hasn't been one before, because there has always been ice there before."

Obama's anti-oil team.  The president-elect is poised to hand environmental policy to people who want to punish petroleum.

Drill, Baby, Drill? Forget It.  For all the political energy spent on offshore drilling —something that a vast majority of Americans support but liberals oppose —the courts have spoken and delayed drilling for years, perhaps decades.  Last Friday [4/17/2009], the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned the 2007-2012 plan authored by the Interior Department because —as the lawyers say, inter alia —its "environmental sensitivity rankings are irrational."  So the matter gets dumped into the hands of the much more sensitive Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Boxer Unwilling to Compromise on ANWR Drilling.  Even if you offer Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., what she's been pushing for — taxpayer investments in "green" or renewable energy — she's not going to budge in her opposition to opening federal lands to oil and natural gas exploration.

Santa Barbara County reverses oil drilling stand.  Months after making national headlines for supporting offshore oil drilling, the county famous for spawning the modern environmental movement reversed course Tuesday [4/7/2009] and voted to oppose the drilling.  The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, citing a need to preserve its coastline, voted 3-2 for a resolution to oppose oil exploration and extraction in the county.

Appeals court cancels offshore drilling program.  A federal appeals court ruled Friday [4/17/2009] that the Bush administration did not properly study the environmental impact of expanding oil and gas drilling off the Alaska coast and canceled a program to find new reserves.  A three-judge panel in Washington found that the Bush-era Interior Department failed to consider the effect on the environment and marine life before it began the process in August 2005 to expand an oil and gas leasing program in the Beaufort, Bering, and Chukchi seas.

Obama Is Anti-Oil And Anti-American.  Oil producing nations such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, along with Venezuela, will grow rich while Americans will be faced with high costs for gasoline, heating oil, and everything else that depends on oil such as asphalt or even Vaseline.  Meanwhile, oil producers in America, large and small, will take a financial beating.  If you don't like living in a modern, advanced and industrialized society, you will favor this.  If you think Americans consume too much, drive too much, and deserve to be punished for it, you will favor this.

Obama Targets U.S. Oil.  While Mr. Obama's original plan was to impose windfall-profit taxes on oil firms, now that windfall profits are gone because energy prices have fallen, he is pitching in his fiscal 2010 budget proposals to raise at least US$31.5-billion more from the oil-and-gas sector over 10 years by raising royalties, imposing new taxes and eliminating loopholes. ... Too bad it won't work the way Mr. Obama envisions, as the Alberta experience with higher oil and gas royalties has shown, and that Mr. Obama's plan will more likely steer Americans further down a path of dependence on Middle East oil ... .

Green-Subsidy Strings.  President Obama has long promised $150 billion — $15 billion a year over 10 years — in industry subsidies to develop alternative fuels, including Detroit Three production of alternate-fuel vehicles to meet federal fuel mandates.  White House Deputy Budget Director Robert Nabors confirmed yesterday that that the subsidy is contingent on revenues from the president's cap and trade tax.  No cap and trade, no $150 billion.  The White House was not forthcoming with details, but the move points a gun at Detroit's head:  Support our cap and trade scheme or no green subsidIes for you.

Energy-state lawmakers vow to fight Obama oil tax hikes.  Energy-state lawmakers are vowing to do everything they can to block President Obama's proposed $31.5 billion tax increase on oil and gas producers.  Obama's $3.55 trillion budget blueprint released Thursday [2/26/2009] targeted U.S. energy producers by imposing new taxes and fees, abolishing existing tax breaks and changing accounting rules.  The White House proposals provoked a firestorm of opposition today from industry allies on Capitol Hill.

Court halts Utah oil and gas leases.  A judge late Saturday [1/17/2009] halted the Bush administration's efforts to open 110,000 acres of federal land in Utah to oil and gas exploration, ruling that the danger of damaging the pristine land required further study before leases were awarded.  The leases to the parcels had been auctioned off Dec. 19 in a move that environmental groups said was a last-minute gift to the energy industry before President Bush left office.

Bias alert!
A "gift to the energy industry" is a gift to the energy consumer.

Harry Reid's Land Grab:  The 1200-page, pork-laden, $10 billion proposal locks up millions of acres of energy-rich property by designating it as environmentalist-friendly "federal wilderness" area where not even as much as a bicycle would be permitted to travel across the land.  Many of these areas recently became available when the ban on domestic drilling in Western states expired last fall and the liberal left couldn't muster the courage to keep it in place due to rising energy prices.  Now Democratic leaders are using different legislative strategies to put a new kind of ban in place.

US govt cancels leases for Utah oil, gas drilling.  In a sharp reversal of Bush administration policy, the Interior Department canceled controversial energy leases on Wednesday [2/4/2009] that would have opened lands near national parks in Utah to oil and natural gas drilling.

Obama's 'Extreme Team' On Energy.  One of them wanted to see Americans paying $8 a gallon for gasoline.  Another tried to block access to domestic oil reserves that could one day exceed those in Saudi Arabia.  Another thinks global warming is a dire crisis justifying a massive crackdown on energy — decades after saying the same thing about global cooling.  Yet another had a position in the one of the world's top socialist organizations.  Meet the Obama administration's energy team.

War On Fossil Fuels.  The new administration has wasted no time in reversing a decision by the Bush White House that let gas and oil companies explore for new resources.  Keep this in mind the next time pump prices take off.

Boxer Unwilling to Compromise on ANWR Drilling.  Even if you offer Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., what she's been pushing for — taxpayer investments in "green" or renewable energy — she's not going to budge in her opposition to opening federal lands to oil and natural gas exploration.

Obama Interior Nominee to Consider New Ban on Oil Drilling in USA.  President-elect Barack Obama's secretary of the interior nominee, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), said he will consider restoring parts of an expired federal ban on offshore oil drilling, but told CNSNews.com that he has "no idea" how much of the drilling restrictions should be reimposed.

The POR (Pelosi-Obama-Reid) Economy:  Tanks a Lot.  The POR economy kicked in during the latter part of June, when its architects — Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and Harry Reid — decided that starving the economy of energy by refusing to allow more offshore drilling in the face of $4 gas prices was a winning political position.  Pelosi claimed that because we couldn't totally "drill our way out of this," we shouldn't increase drilling at all.  Reid put an exclamation point on Pelosi's stubbornness by insisting that fossil fuels are "making us sick."

In Alaska, The Drill Is Gone.  Remember those 68 million acres House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the oil companies had to use or lose?  According to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, they can't drill there either.

"Use It or Lose It" Is Not the Way Energy Markets Work.  While Republicans have argued for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Congressional Democrats responded with a counterclaim:  oil companies need to use what they already have.  To that end, House Democrats have proposed "use it or lose it" legislation that would apply to leases on federal land.

Speaker Pushing Stealth Renewal of Congressional Energy Embargo.  Having failed to pass the required measures to fund the government for the next fiscal year, Congress must now pass what is known as a Continuing Resolution (CR) in order to avoid a government shutdown.  A draft of the resolution contains a provision taken from the recently passed House bill, H.R. 6899, to continue the ban on energy exploration and production on nearly all of the taxpayer owned Outer Continental Shelf in the lower 48 states for another year.

Gasoline, Oil and the Economy:  Despite the current gas price relief, growing numbers of Americans remain wary of domestic gasoline supply, gas prices, and fear for their economic future.  They are wary of the OPEC nations, who can throttle supply on political whim; and, they fear that, should they lose their job, how will they be able to buy food, gas, and pay for their home.  Their worry is understandable.  Perhaps, it is also wise — if their worry serves as a catalyst for demanding specific action by elected officials.

Stop the War on Poor Families.  As Democratic Party delegates gather in Denver, America is repeatedly being told that we must transform our economy to "green" energy.  Our future is in wind and solar, liberal Democrats and environmental activists insist.  Oil, gas, coal and nuclear must go.  American citizens vigorously disagree.  They know fossil and nuclear fuels built this country and created health and living standards unprecedented in history.  Over two-thirds support increased drilling.

Why Americans Can't Get U.S. Oil:  At last report, Democrats decided to allow the quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire.  That's not the same as lifting the ban.  Moreover, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) is on record saying that, if the Democrats retain control of Congress, restoring the ban "will be a top priority for discussion next year."  So much for so-called "energy independence."  When Democrats say that, they are talking about wind and solar power, and biofuels, not oil, natural gas, and coal.

The Congressional Oil Embargo.  Congress and America united when we suffered from an Arab Oil Embargo in 1973.  Now we're suffering from a Congressional Oil Embargo. … The Arab Oil Embargo only lasted six months.  The Congressional Oil Embargo has lasted for decades and endures to this day.

House Democrats to Let Ban on Drilling Expire.  Congressional Democrats bowed to political pressure yesterday [9/23/2008] and agreed to let the ban on offshore oil drilling expire, a decision that would allow exploration just three miles off the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines unless the next president reinstates an executive branch order that prohibits drilling.

Pedaling no-gas options.  Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives sent a message last week to hard-working commuters forced to pay historically high prices for gasoline:  Ride a bike.  The message was buried on page 255 of a 290-page bill the Democratic leadership introduced at 9:45 p.m. last Monday night, forced through the Rules Committee at 10:00 p.m., and put up for a "debate" and final vote — with no amendments allowed — on Tuesday evening [9/16/2008].

Congressional corruption:  The energy crisis comes to rest at the feet of the Democrats.  For more than 30 years, the Democrats have used whatever rules and procedures necessary to block or prevent the energy industry from keeping up with the growing demand.  Democrats have prevented the construction of a single nuclear plant, or a single oil refinery, and the development of our domestic energy resources.  It is the Democrats that are now preventing even a reasoned debate.

The drilling bill that bans drilling.  This bill permanently bans all drilling within 50 miles of the US coast, which just happens to be where most of the recoverable oil and gas reserves are.  It permits drilling between 50 and 100 miles out only if the adjoining states agree — which they won't, since the bill denies them any share in the royalties the oil companies would have to pay, thereby eliminating any financial incentive for a state to say yes.  Virtually all the oil off the California coast and beneath the Eastern Gulf of Mexico would be locked up for good.

Energy Policy End Game.  In 41 days, the long-imposed moratorium on offshore oil drilling and domestic oil shale production is set to expire — gone.  This happens automatically and can be stopped only if Congress votes to re-establish the ban.  Lifting the moratorium might free up as much as 100 years' worth of oil and gas for domestic consumption.  But keeping domestic energy supplies off limits is something Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and their environmentalist allies desperately want to do.

A Country At Mercy Of Environmentalists.  For several decades, environmentalists have managed to get Congress to keep most of our oil resources off-limits to exploration and drilling.  They've managed to have the Congress enact onerous regulations that have made refinery construction impossible.  Similarly, they've used the courts and Congress to completely stymie the construction of nuclear power plants.  As a result, energy prices are at historical highs and threaten our economy and national security.

Where's the Energy?  Locked up, thanks to Speaker Pelosi.  With complete disregard to the rights of the minority party, the Democrat leadership in Congress will not allow a vote on drilling for America's vast domestic resources.  Producers have made great strides in minimizing ecological damage.  Over the past 25 years, 7 billion gallons of oil have been pumped to shore, without a single significant spill.  In fact, the last oil spill of any impact from a drilling rig off our shores occurred 37 years ago.  Yet, congressional Democrats refuse to acknowledge these facts, choosing instead to remain beholden to the fringe environmental extremists who oppose advancement.

No Excuses For Not Drilling.  About 700 billion U.S. dollars flow out of this country every year for foreign oil and gas.  Instead of this obscene transfer of our wealth and standard of living out of the United States, why don't you let the "Big Evil Oil Companies" invest their obscene, windfall profits right here in the United States and then the let the taxpayers' dollars for energy stay here too?  Here are the weak excuses I hear, mostly from Democrats….

Nelson endorses Jennings, vows to block offshore drilling.  Democratic congressional candidate Christine Jennings on Wednesday [8/20/2008] picked up the endorsement of Sen. Bill Nelson, a fellow Democrat who also vowed to prevent any expansion of oil drilling off Florida's Gulf Coast.

Pelosi's Energy Stonewall:  Democrats appear ready to sacrifice their whole agenda, even spending, rather than allow new domestic energy production.  Or even a mere debate about energy.  The Democratic leadership is stonewalling any measure that might possibly relax the Congressional ban on offshore drilling.  Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid know that they would lose if a vote ever came to the floor, and they're desperate to suppress an insurrection among those Democrats who are pragmatic about one of the top economic issues.

Pelosi won't limit vote to offshore drilling.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday firmly rejected the idea of a House vote solely on the issue of offshore oil drilling, calling it "a hoax on the American people" backed by oil companies. ... "You want to drill?  We want the royalties for the American people, and we want that to pay for renewable energy resources," the San Francisco Democrat said in an interview for KQED television's weekly news show, "This Week in Northern California."  "We want to connect all that together."

The Editor interjects...
But Ms. Pelosi, those royalties are not yours to give away.

Let's See the Votes.  Here is information and a list of votes compiled by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranging from 1995 to 2008, on off-shore drilling and drilling in ANWR.  Take a look and decide for yourself who is to blame for stopping drilling in the OCS and in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR).

No-Energy Nancy's Phony Energy Plan:  Our friends at the Institute for Energy Research (IER) posted a devastating exposé of the Pelosi plan.  As announced last week, the plan would:
 •  Permanently ban access to about 97 percent of the undersea oil lying within 50 miles of the California coast.
 •  Continue the ban on energy production in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
 •  Impose a brand-new ban on oil and gas leases in Alaska's coastal waters out to 50 miles.
 •  Not allow states that approve new leases beyond 50 miles to share royalties with the federal government, thus stripping any financial incentive for states to stand up to environmental pressure groups, who will continue to agitate against any new oil and gas operations offshore.

The Democrats' Sham Energy Bill:  Republicans recognize expanded drilling for oil is a powerful issue working for them in this election year.  Voters paying record high oil prices in a country where long drives to work are often mandatory favor expanded oil drilling.  Speaker Pelosi's ruse was endangering too many of her Democratic colleagues.  Thus she resorted to Plan B.

Pelosi's Drilling Ruse:  When Democrats opposed every measure to increase domestic oil production, they angered millions of Americans.  And when they finally tried to claim they were for new drilling by producing two bills that allowed new drilling only where there was little or no oil, Americans quickly picked up on the scam.  On all of the major issues of the past two years, the Democrats chose to play political gotcha instead of actually govern.

Democrats Still Aren't Serious About Drilling.  After a five-week paid vacation, Democrats are back in Washington and claiming that they want to do something about oil prices.  But the problem is that their plan, which passed the House yesterday [9/16/2008] and will likely come up for a vote in the Senate later this week, will not produce a single drop of oil.  Why?  Because it does nothing about environmental groups that are suing to stop drilling.

Dems like $10 per Gallon Gasoline.  You have to see this video to believe it.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) was on the Senate floor earlier today, attempting to get offshore drilling authorized.  As you'll see on the YouTube shot, he tried to get Democrats to agree to a trigger for it, at ever-increasing levels of gas prices.  McConnell was asking for unanimous consent, so the bill could pass immediately.  Try as he might, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Co) objected no matter how high McConnell raised the ante.  $4 a gallon?  Salazar objected.  $7.50 a gallon?  Again, Salazar objected.  Finally, McConnell offers a trigger for offshore drilling permission at $10 a gallon gasoline prices.  And guess what?  Salazar objected.

Bush Says Drill, Drill, Drill — and Oil Drops $9!  Democrats keep saying that it will take 10 years or longer to produce oil from the offshore areas.  And they say that oil prices won't decline for at least that long.  And they, along with Obama and McCain, bash so-called oil speculators.  And today we had a real-world example as to why they are wrong.

'Rig' The Election.  When President Bush lifted the executive order banning exploration and drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, two things happened almost immediately:  The world price for oil started to drop and the Democrats panicked.  They could no longer hide under the umbrella the order provided.

Washington's Dry Well:  President Bush ratcheted up the pressure on Congress this week to open the Outer Continental Shelf to oil drilling by rescinding the executive order prohibiting such exploration.  There's just one catch:  For the president's action to take effect, Congress has to lift its own ban, which has been in place since 1983.  And that's not going to happen.

Boehner says majority of Congress wants to drill.  House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Congress is ready to lift the ban on offshore drilling but is being blocked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).  "Nancy Pelosi and the liberals here in the Congress, they worship at the altar radical environmentalism.  The last thing that that group wants is more drilling," said Boehner in an interview with Bloomberg TV Saturday.

Pelosi stands firm against offshore drilling.  Her voice carries considerable weight since, as speaker, Pelosi is in a position to prevent a vote on expanded drilling from reaching the floor.  And she and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, appear intent on holding the line against calls to approve drilling in areas now off limits.

Pelosi blocks vote on Bush request to lift ban on offshore oil drilling.  A plan to lift the ban on coastal drilling is stalled on Capitol Hill, for one simple reason:  A Californian who opposes President Bush's proposal is calling the shots in the House of Representatives.  Despite growing public support for ending the ban, even in California, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco said she won't allow the immediate vote the president wants.

Blunt blasts Pelosi for not allowing drilling vote.  House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Sunday [7/20/2008] strongly criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for not allowing a vote on a measure that would allow offshore drilling.  While acknowledging that Pelosi can prevent such a vote, Blunt said the Democratic leader would have to live with that decision, which he argued "does not make sense to the American people."

America's Energy Held Hostage.  A recent CNN poll showed more than 73 percent of Americans in favor of offshore drilling.  But the House Speaker can keep the issue from even reaching a vote, and Pelosi seems bent on just that.  "(In California) We learned the hard way that oil and water do not mix on our coast," she said back in 1996.  Pelosi was referring, of course, to the famous Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969, an event that serves as the Alamo of the anti-drilling cause.

The Editor says...
Nancy Pelosi has gotten a lot of political mileage out of that one oil spill almost 40 years ago.  The Santa Barbara incident was a blowout.  Prior to the development of blow-out preventers, blowouts were common and were referred to as gushers.*  In other words, there's so much oil and gas out there, it can hardly wait to get out of the ground.

Democrats Against Drilling.  Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and other liberal leaders on Capitol Hill are gripped by cold-sweat terror.  If they permit a vote on offshore drilling, they know they will lose when Blue Dogs and oil-patch Democrats defect to the GOP position of increasing domestic energy production.  So the last failsafe is to shut down Congress.

Dems Over a Domestic Barrel.  On September 30 … the ban on fossil-fuel drilling off America's Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and in the oil-shale fields of the West will expire.  Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, must pass an appropriations bill extending the bans.  The onus, in other words, is on them.

Democrats Should Let Us Drill.  Now that an executive branch ban on offshore oil exploration has been lifted, the time has come for Democrats in Washington to lift their own ban on increased domestic supply.  Americans are demanding that Congress do something about record-high gas prices.  They recognize that prices will not go down unless supplies go up.  And they also know that the only thing now standing in the way of more domestic supply is the Democratic refusal to allow it.

The Futile Crusades of Dem Quixote:  You name the issue, and the party led by Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi has diagnosed it incorrectly and applied the wrong remedy.  Let's consider just a few of today's ills:  oil prices, Iraq, and obesity.

Dems' Doublethink on Drilling:  High gasoline prices are good.  A high price, imposed through federal carbon taxes or carbon caps, is precisely the mechanism by which Democrats hope to curb carbon emissions. … [But] High gasoline prices are bad.  With constituents irate over gasoline prices that are pushing $5 a gallon, Democrats complain that high prices are a bad thing.

The Democrats' No-Drill Energy Plan.  When it comes to domestic oil production, the Democrats and their Green/Left supporters are all singing from the same deranged hymnal.  In May, one of the choir leaders, Democratic Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois declared, "We can't drill our way to lower prices."

The Democrats' Energy Charade:  Earlier this month the House of Representatives voted on an energy bill called the Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands (Drill) Act.  The good news, for those of us who actually want to do something to lower gas prices, is that it failed. … The problem here came in the fine print.  The bill would have mandated that leasing be done in an undefined, "environmentally responsible" way.  We know from experience that such ambiguous language leads to lawsuits and delays.

How Wrong are the Democrats on Drilling?  A common response of the Democrats when confronted with citizens advocating for increased offshore drilling is that the results are "years off into the future" and therefore any relief on gas prices would be unlikely — at least in any sort of time frame that matters to voters right now.  They are wrong on many measures — foremost among them is that the same obstruction deprived Americans all these years of domestic production which would have been in place but for Democratic opposition.  Also future prices would respond to the prospect of increased oil supplies and this would have a depressive effect on oil prices — NOW.

Drilling and Blissful Ignorance:  Consider:  25 years ago, nearly 60 percent of U.S. petroleum was produced domestically.  Today it's 25 percent.  From its peak in 1970, U.S. production has declined a staggering 47 percent.  The world consumes 86 million barrels a day; the United States, roughly 20 million.  We need the stuff to run our cars and planes and economy.  Where does it come from?

Shut Up and Produce Some Oil.  Liberals are flailing about looking for some political cover on energy and gas prices.  For decades now, they have supported the policies of extremists who have systematically sought to shut down every major energy source for our economy.  We can't drill for oil offshore, we can't drill in the frozen tundra of north Alaska, we can't even develop oil shale on the mainland.  Liberals are even opposing the development of new oil discoveries in the Plains states.

Let's Drill.  Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, the Mr. Magoo of American politics, stumbled onto the truth last week.  He discovered the law of supply and demand.  "We want to put [more oil] on the market to increase supply and lower prices," Reid said.  "With oil and gas prices continuing to break record highs every day, much more needs to be done."  Indeed it does.  But Reid won't allow it.

Loony Harry Reid.  This nation is in serious trouble because it has people in very powerful elected positions that say crazy things.  Take, for example, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) who is the Senate Majority Leader:  "The one thing we fail to talk about is those costs that you don't see on the bottom line.  That is coal makes us sick.  Oil makes us sick; it's global warming.  It's ruining our country, it's ruining our world.  We've got to stop using fossil fuel."  [Italics in original]

Harry Reid's Position Paper on Drilling:  In a recent interview with Fox News Business Channel, Mr. Reid, who was evidently fed up with questions about drilling, suddenly exclaimed:  "Coal makes us sick, oil makes us sick; it's global warming.  It's ruining our country, it's ruining the world.  We've got to stop using fossil fuel."  Mr. Reid's rant quickly became the No. 1 video on the Internet, approaching a half-million views.

Dems oblivious on oil.  Maybe the quickest way to lower oil and gas prices would be this:  Immediately enroll every Democratic member of Congress in an entry-level economics class.  The lack of even a basic grasp of economic concepts has led Democrats to oppose sensible policies that would begin to lower oil and gas prices.  Instead, they push hair-brained ideas that make no sense.

We're Not Addicts!  It's a confused and confusing debate but it can be boiled down to this:  On one side are those who believe the answer is for us to slash our demand for energy.  On the other side are those who believe the answer is to greatly increase our supply.

What Do The Democrats Take Us For?  The public wants more oil, but Democrats keep offering the same solutions, not one of which includes drilling and all of which are asinine.  Do they think the American people are fools?

Dems Oppose GOP Call for Increased Domestic Drilling.  Democratic senators are skeptical about new efforts by Republicans and the Bush administration to increase offshore drilling, despite a government report by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management showing that there are 139 billion barrels of oil in the United States (onshore and offshore combined).

Countering Democrats on Drilling:  The Democrats have a standardized talking point against any domestic drilling (in ANWR, the Midwest oil shales and off-shore), settling on the comeback:  "It won't help us today." … If the voters see environmentalists, tree-huggers, and their Democratic political minions as causing $4 or $5 a gallon gasoline, along with the rise in consumer prices across the board because of the increase of the cost of oil used as an ingredient in many products, they will blame the Democrats.  And frustration with environmentalism is starting to show up in the polls, which are indicating an increasing call for domestic drilling from the American public.

Domestic Drilling OK, Just 'Not in My State,' Senators Say.  "There may be places that make sense, I am not saying, 'Let's not drill anywhere,'" Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in response to the question.  "But do I want to drill off the California coast?  No.  Do I want to drill in the Arctic in endangered areas?  No."

The Editor asks...
Uh, Senator, I have a question:  What is an "endangered area?"  Is that a place that might disappear if we drill for oil there?

Fuelish Democrats:  [Democrats] promised in the 2006 campaign to offer a "common sense" plan to curb gas prices.  They have yet to produce one, and the price per gallon of gas has risen by more than $1.60 since Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007. … [But] John McCain is a problem.  He opposes drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR), though he has come around on increased domestic production in other areas (except off the coast of Florida).

Obama Unlikely to Support New Oil Drilling in U.S..  A recent report by the Interior Department shows that there are about 139 billion barrels of undiscovered oil on U.S. territory, onshore and offshore combined, much of it restricted from extraction because of environmental regulations.  Further, indications are that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) does not support drilling for that oil and would not take steps to do so if elected president.

Senate votes to halt strategic oil stockpiling.  Jittery about a political backlash over gasoline costs as prices set yet another record Tuesday, Congress voted to halt deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in defiance of President Bush.  The action was expected to have a modest effect on pump prices, saving motorists from 2 to 5 cents a gallon, backers said.

Democrats and High Oil PricesInvestor's Business Daily has a continuing series on "Breaking the Back of High Oil", and today's edition has a fascinating breakdown of some of the actions that the Democrats have taken over the last three decades or so to ensure that our country has no defense against the effects of rising oil prices.  While doing so, they've made us all captives of OPEC and such tinpot dictatorships such as Venezuela.

Blame Congress for High Oil Prices.  If there is a villain in all of this, it is Congress itself.  That venerable body has made it impossible for U.S. producers of crude oil to tap significant domestic reserves of oil and gas, and it has foreclosed economically viable alternative sources of energy in favor of unfeasible alternatives such as wind and solar.  In addition, Congress has slapped substantial taxes on gasoline.

Clinton:  Drilling not the answer.  Exploring new sources of oil in the United States is not the solution to the nation's growing energy crunch, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton said last week.  There are places where exploration and drilling can take place, such as the Gulf of Mexico, but it doesn't make sense to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, Clinton said during an interview with the Argus Leader on Friday.

The Editor says...
In other words, Hillary Clinton wants to leave the oil in the ground and depend entirely on conservation to achieve "energy independence."  Anyone with an ounce of critical thinking will see immediately that her plans cannot succeed, and that she will blame someone else when the ideas flop.

Turning Voters Into Morons:  Consider the Democrats' cruel exploitation of their supporters' hopes and fears regarding rising gasoline prices.  Both Clinton and Obama have talked as though those prices can be lowered.  Clinton specifically talks of lowering federal gas taxes during the summer.  That will do it, but only for the summer.  The problem is that oil demand worldwide has exceeded supply. … Likewise the candidates are deceiving their supporters when they promise to make the country "independent of foreign oil."

Obamanomics:  [Scroll down]  It should be possible on the straight-talk express to devise some alternative to the patently cynical promise of "energy independence."  No such "independence" is within reach, as the successive failures of Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and two Bushes to attain it should demonstrate.

Striking Out on Energy.  President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain went to bat on energy policy this week.  And guess what?  They both struck out.  Mr. Bush went hat in hand to the Saudis to ask for more oil production in order to bring down world prices.  He whiffed.  They said no for the second time this year.  ExxonMobil chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson said it's "astonishing" that Mr. Bush keeps asking Saudi Arabia to pump more oil, rather than working harder for increased oil production at home.

Bush gets oil but no credit for jawboning Saudis.  President George W. Bush walked away from a meeting with Saudi King Abdullah on Friday with a prize he has been seeking for months:  a commitment from the world's big oil exporter to boost output.  But the news — which came the same day that U.S. crude oil futures hit a new record of $127.82 a barrel — speaks less to Bush's success at "jawboning" the de facto OPEC leader on oil prices and more to the kingdom's worry that high oil prices will dent demand for their own supplies, analysts said.

Dems 'Oil' Wet About Gas Prices.  Have you noticed that ever since the Democrats took control of Congress, oil and gas prices have been going through the roof?  The Dems won control of the House and Senate last year in part on the notion that sinking billions of taxpayer dollars into corn-based ethanol would combat global warming; itself a dubious superstition that some scientists say is part of the Earth's natural environmental changes over many eons.

Democrats Fumble Ball On Energy.  The price of oil has risen sharply since the Democrats, with their government-heavy energy schemes, took control of the House.  Since January 2007, the first month for the Democrats in office, oil prices are up by more than 113%. … Congress, led by Democrats since January 2007, has steadfastly refused to do anything constructive to bring down the price of oil.  What truly is frightening is Pelosi shows no sign of running out of bad ideas to ruin our energy-dependent economy.

Feckless To Reckless, Pelosi Should Resign.  Any leader with an energy record as derelict as Speaker Pelosi's ought to step down.  Where she once was just incompetent and irresponsible, she has now — with her latest scheme to fix oil prices — become dangerous.  Despite polls showing Americans in favor of drilling more oil from America's huge untapped supplies, Pelosi won't allow it.  She just wants to empty our Strategic Petroleum Reserve for a short-term fix to get through Election Day.

Ann Coulter is a little sarcastic, but she has a point...
This is Not a Drill.  [Speaker of the House Nancy] Pelosi announced that the Democrats also plan to push for "an historic investment in biofuels, efficiency, conservation and the rest."  The "rest" is apparently what she called our "important and essential" investment in alternative energy.  That certainly would be historic:  We would make history by throwing our money away on unproven energy boondoggles that have eaten up untold billions since the 1960s without producing a single net kilowatt of power while we all starve to death.

Over to You, Speaker Pelosi.  Gas is still at $4 a gallon, but the good news is there's an emerging consensus on a measure that would help:  Drill for more oil here at home.  President Bush dropped the executive ban on offshore oil and natural gas exploration last week, and House GOP leader John Boehner plans to lead a congressional delegation to Colorado and Alaska to highlight America's abundant energy resources this week.  Polls show more than two-thirds of the public support increased domestic energy exploration and production.  Guess who stands in the way.

Power of one:  Pelosi vows to block offshore drilling vote.  A plan to lift the ban on coastal drilling is stalled on Capitol Hill, for one simple reason: A Californian who opposes President Bush's proposal is calling the shots in the House of Representatives.  Despite growing public support for ending the ban, even in California, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she won't allow a vote.  "I have no plans to do so," Pelosi said Thursday [7/17/2008].

Pelosi:  'I'm trying to save the planet'.  After promising fairness and open debate, Pelosi has resorted to hard-nosed parliamentary devices that effectively bar any chance for Republicans to offer policy alternatives.  "I'm trying to save the planet; I'm trying to save the planet," she says impatiently when questioned.  "I will not have this debate trivialized by their excuse for their failed policy."

Drill Through The Floor.  Led by Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind., Tom Price, R-Ga., and Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., and fully backed by House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, this GOP attack could smack unwary Democrats as hard as the blast of a Texas oil gusher, because what Republicans are demanding is nothing more than a simple up-or-down vote on drilling for domestic oil in a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.

Five Myths About Going It Alone on Energy:  The idea that the United States, the world's single largest energy consumer, can be independent of the $5 trillion-per-year energy business — the world's single biggest industry — is ludicrous on its face.  The push for energy independence is based on a series of false premises.  Here are a few of the most pernicious ones.

An awful oil bill.  If you're wondering why the Democrat-controlled Congress has lower approval ratings than President Bush, then look at the bill that the House passed on mostly a party-line vote, 236-182.  It scraps the tax deductions given to the nation's oil companies, such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and ChevronTexaco.  In light of the record profits these firms have been racking up, not many folks will shed any tears for them.  But perhaps they should.

The U.S. needs a good oil plan.  Americans in both parties need to get on board.  That means opening up the coasts of Florida and California to new offshore drilling for the first time in a quarter-century.  That means tapping into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.  That means easing regulations to allow the industry to build its first new refinery in three decades.  For too long, partisanship and environmental demagoguery have blocked progress toward easing the nation's ever-growing reliance on foreign oil.

The Oil Dependency Myth:  To say that the people of the United States are "dependent" upon foreign oil is also a misnomer.  Individuals choose to purchase oil from overseas producers because such an action is preferable to other alternatives.  I am "dependent" upon overseas oil in the same way that I am "dependent" upon Proctor & Gamble for my laundry detergent or the local butcher for my meat.  (This is not to absolve the U.S. government for engaging in bad foreign policy in the hopes of convincing overseas producers to sell oil to Americans at cheap prices.  My purpose is simply to point out the absurdity of saying that voluntary economic exchanges are acts of "dependence.")

A Cartel Worse Than OPEC:  This year a very large reserve was located in the Gulf of Mexico, some distance from the shore line of Texas.  There is no shortage of oil or gas around the coast of the United States.  Some 20 years ago, Phillips Petroleum sought permission to drill wells in the Bridger-Teton National Forest (gasp!) in Wyoming.  The wells were to be capped and used only in case of a national emergency.  Wyoming is one of America's richest states in energy resources.  The request was denied.

Mind their own business.  Global energy giant BP has been a leader of the so-called "corporate social responsibility" movement. … Two weeks ago, the campaign broke down.  BP shut down its Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska's North Slope after discovering what a company press release called "unexpectedly severe corrosion" in the pipeline.  The company says it will replace 73 percent of the Prudhoe Bay pipelines.  The shutdown will cost the nation 8 percent of its output — 400,000 barrels of oil a day — at a time when consumer gas prices are hitting record highs and world oil prices are soaring.

Addicted to what?  The first part of last Tuesday's State of the Union — on national security — was tough, clear, principled, well reasoned.  The second part was a laundry list, reminiscent of the worst of Bill Clinton.  I was nodding off when I heard the President Bush say, "America is addicted to oil."  Addicted to oil!  That woke me up.  America is no more addicted to oil than it is addicted to bread, to milk, to paper, to water, to computers….

America's Oil Weapon:  President Bush has bemoaned what he calls the United States' addiction to oil.  He has demonized America's oil use in speeches, and talked about the need to move beyond the petroleum-based economy.  The president is certainly correct to point out harmful side effects to our use of oil and the need for us to address them.  But in using the expressly negative language of addiction, the President not only cast a dark cloud over the fuel that presently underpins a huge portion of our economy, he badly confused a set of issues that demand clear thinking and fair analysis.

 Editor's Note:   That America is "addicted to oil" is something you would expect Al Gore to say, not George W. Bush.

Addicted to Regulation.  In his State of the Union Address, President Bush said that "America is addicted to oil."  But it would be more accurate to say that America is addicted to opportunity, and oil and its products help us seize it. … Some 40% of our oil consumption is for cars and light trucks; 32% for buses, railroads, ships, trucks and agricultural machinery; and another 17% goes into petrochemicals to produce products from plastic to paint.  These uses represent opportunities, not addictions.

Oil Addiction Fiction:  Bush's "Addiction" May Be Rational Choice.  In spite of President Bush's dire warning in his State of the Union address that America is becoming "addicted to oil" — followed by "rehab" policies to include renewables, hybrids and now CAFE standards — most Americans do not wish to break the habit.  Far from it:  Americans want their government to find new sources of oil to increase domestic supplies.

Nelson:  Oil rigs would interfere with military training in Gulf.  U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson says the Bush administration is "hell-bent" on offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, with some gas rigs as close as 25 miles from Florida's shoreline.  But he says the military may prevent it.  Nelson told reporters in Tallahassee that the Pentagon needs restricted air space south of Eglin and Tyndall Air Force Bases, to test new types of jets and even secret weapons.  He said the Navy also does some weapons testing in the area, and can't have oil rigs in the way.

Note:  There's more about Environmentalists vs. Military Preparedness on another page.

Energy insecurity — unreliable supply at an unreasonable cost — took years to create.  Solutions will take years as well.  In the meantime, working with the international community, Washington must develop better knowledge, more tools and greater will to effectively address international petroleum supply issues in foreign and economic policy.  Focused activities, skillfully executed, in producing countries could bring millions of barrels more to world markets.  We would then have less to fear from Iran or other threats.

The 21st century Boston Tea Party.  On Aug. 1, Speaker Nancy Pelosi — without addressing gas prices that continue to hover near $4 per gallon — adjourned Congress for five weeks, dimmed the lights, turned off the microphones and C-SPAN cameras and attempted to remove the press and visitors from the House chamber.  Republicans refuse to leave the chamber because the issue is about much more than gas prices.  It is about much more than energy.  It is about the U.S. economy, jobs and national security.  It is about who we are as a people.




How to lower gas prices:  Produce more oil!

A Declaration of Energy Independence.  How can we achieve the energy independence which every President since Nixon has said is a matter of national security?  Stop wringing our hands and moaning about our situation, stand up like our ancestors have and boldly declare our Energy Independence!  In practical terms we should:  take the shackles off our domestic oil industry, build new refineries, develop better distribution of natural gas, expand the use of nuclear, wind, solar and every conceivable form of energy, and drill baby drill!

Drill.  Given that we're spending billions of stimulus dollars to rebuild our highways, it makes sense to think about what we'll be driving on them.  For years to come, most of what we drive will be powered, at least in part, by diesel fuel or gasoline.  To fuel that driving, we need access to oil.  The less use we make of our own reserves, the more we will have to import, which leads to a number of harmful consequences.  That means we need to drill here and drill now.

Let's Drill Our Way To Lower Taxes.  Opening our vast domestic resources, both on- and off-shore, to responsible oil and gas development would produce an influx of tax revenue from additional lease sales and royalties, as well as from income and excise taxes.  These additional collections could be used, for example, to offset the alternative minimum tax (AMT).  The Congressional Research Service recently estimated the potential federal revenue from Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) oil development at $191 billion over 30 years — roughly $18.36 per barrel, based on projections of recoverable reserves.

All Falling Down...  [Scroll down]  While Obama was right to stiffen efficiency standards and promote alternate energies, he is neglecting the only mechanisms that can tide us over for the next 20 years — more natural gas, domestic oil, shale, tar sands, clean coal, and nuclear energy.  We should be on a dash to build nuclear plants for the coming demand from plug in hybrids and spikes in electricity usage.  We should be leasing as much natural gas lands as possible, to gain the supplies to run energy plants and to power vehicles.  There is plenty of oil in the Dakotas, California, Texas and in the Gulf and we should be drilling there like mad.  Sorry, even Santa Barbara should either ban SUVs or have oil derricks on the horizon.

Drill and Save, Now.  The nation, it seems, now favors developing new sources over "saving the planet" by a hefty 3-2 margin.  And get this:  The biggest shift came among — yep! — liberals.  Seems sanctimonious tree-huggers and caribou-coddlers have their price:  $4 gas.

What Part of 'Drill Now' do they Not Understand?  Out here in West Texas we love our guns, we support our troops, and we treasure our freedom. … We also walk around on top of oil:  yes it's far beneath us, but it's there.  And all these aspects of West Texas come together to our astonishment and anger over the fact that our independence is limited by an intrusive federal government that tells us what oil we can and can't access through drilling, and ultimately makes us dependent upon other nations for our own fuel supplies.

Most Americans support more U.S. oil drilling.  A push by U.S. President George W. Bush and Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain to lift a ban on U.S. offshore oil drilling could find plenty of support from Americans weary of rising energy costs, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll.  Some 59.6 percent of Americans surveyed in the poll released on Wednesday [6/18/2008] said they would favour government efforts to boost domestic drilling and refinery construction to cool record prices.

It's Time for Rage.  We have a right to be angry, but anger is no longer enough.  It's time for rage — good, old American rage aimed at those elitist Democrats who prefer to see the folks beggared by soaring fuel prices rather than take the action this very real economic crisis demands.  Drill.

Drill, Already.  High gas prices are finally curbing America's demand for the open road. Transportation Department statistics for March indicate that the country just experienced its first year-over-year decline in miles driven since 1979.  A decrease in demand is one natural market response to rising gas prices.  The other natural response — an increase in supply — has not been as forthcoming, and the price of oil continues to rise even though Americans are driving less.

Drill! Drill! Drill!  At this point in time, is there another country on the face of the earth that would possess the oil and gas reserves held by the United States and refuse to exploit them?  Only technical incompetence, as in Mexico, would hold anyone back.  But not us.  We won't drill.  California won't drill for the estimated 1.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil off its coast because of bad memories of the Santa Barbara oil spill — in 1969.  We won't drill for the estimated 5.6 billion to 16 billion barrels of oil in the moonscape known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) because of — the caribou.

A Time to Drill.  In a remarkably short time, the public has changed from supporters of environmentalism to advocates of drilling for oil and natural gas in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and/or in the ocean.  For the first time since the 1970s, liberals in both parties have found themselves responding to significant demands for drilling.  Their responses are meant to confuse the electorate in order to turn public opinion back to their position on the environment.

Energy Myths:  Many in Congress seem either disconnected from reality or intentionally disingenuous about our energy crunch.  They have well-honed negative responses to common-sense ideas about solving our energy crisis, particularly drilling for more oil.  These responses are based on a number of widely held myths.  Sadly, they've become the backbone of the Democrats' energy policy.  They include:  "We can't drill our way out of our energy crisis."  Actually, we can.

Who wants to help me start drilling for oil?  I'm tired of this nonsense.  I am not addicted to oil.  I'm not psychologically or compulsively compelled to pump gasoline.  If my truck ran on maple syrup I'd use that instead.  But it doesn't.  It is not my fault that the automobile runs on gasoline.  I didn't invent it.  I only bought one because I need it for work like most of you do.  I tolerated paying $2 per gallon, and I could handle $3.  But word came down on Wednesday that $4-a-gallon gas will be the norm through 2009.

'Just Drill, Baby' — Governor Palin.  Yes, my friends on the left, there are responsible ways to drill for oil that will help us with our energy needs and not disturb your precious caribou.  It's time we started to look to solutions like this rather than Obama's wind farms….

Oil Crisis is Solvable.  There is only one way to drive down the rising cost of gasoline for the long term:  significantly increase the domestic supply of oil.  We are the only nation in the world with access to known oil deposits on our own land or off our shores that essentially refuses to tap those resources.  The main stumbling block is a lack of political consensus, which is in especially short supply in an election year.  Instead of coming up with real solutions to our growing energy crisis, the Democrats in Congress would rather rail against the oil companies.

Just Drill, Baby.  Washington politicians will tell you this is an "energy crisis," but America's energy challenges are far more political than substantive.  First, we are not running out of oil.  In 1920 it was estimated that the world supply of oil was 60 billion barrels.  By 1950 it was up to 600 billion, and by 1990 to two trillion.  In 2000 the world supply of oil was estimated to be three trillion barrels.  The U.S. has substantial supplies of oil and gas that could be accessed if lawmakers would allow it, but they frequently don't.

The drill-nothing Congress goes home.  Democrats' insistence on blocking a vote on drilling has more to do with protecting environmental special interests than really protecting the environment or solving the energy crunch.  And for that, they should pay a political price.




Everything but oil is subsidized.

Fossil Fuel Subsidies.  Whenever anyone questions whether wind power and other renewables, such as solar, should get subsidies, the proponents of wind and solar respond by saying fossil fuels get larger subsidies than renewables.  Let's sort out the facts as best we can.

Wind ($23.37) v. Gas (25 Cents).  [Scroll down]  An even better way to tell the story is by how much taxpayer money is dispensed per unit of energy, so the costs are standardized.  For electricity generation, the EIA concludes that solar energy is subsidized to the tune of $24.34 per megawatt hour, wind $23.37 and "clean coal" $29.81.  By contrast, normal coal receives 44 cents, natural gas a mere quarter, hydroelectric about 67 cents and nuclear power $1.59.

D1 Oils says US subsidies have forced it to shut UK refineries.  The enormous damage being done by "splash-and-dash" imports of American biodiesel was highlighted yesterday when one of the UK's leading operators, D1 Oils, said it was closing down all its refining operations in Britain after running up a £46m annual loss.




Big Oil:  Hero or Villain?

Oil in our lives
Life Without Oil:  Not as Simple as You May Think.  [Info-graphic]


Uncle Bernie Sanders Is Brainwashing Our Uneducated Youth.  People are fleeing Venezuela at the rate of one million a year.  According to Forbes, the South American country's inflation rate is a staggering 808%!  But don't blame the USA for this.  Unlike with Cuba, we are still the number one importer of Venezuelan oil and the number one exporter of goods to that benighted country.  We essentially support Venezuela, even though it has been led sequentially by rancid America-hating despots like Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro.

'Fractivists' caught in flood of Colorado lies.  Massive storms dumped "biblical rainfall amounts" across nearly 2,000 square miles of Colorado last month, according to the National Weather Service.  The raging floods that followed killed at least eight people, damaged or destroyed nearly 2,000 homes, and wrecked more than 200 miles of state highways and 50 state bridges.  The Denver Post ran a front page aerial photo headlined, "Front Range Flooding: Oil spilling into mix," showing a trashed stream bed with brown stains near a "damaged tank" that "leaks crude."  Opportunistic flocks of Big Green eco-vultures already embroiled in five local anti-fracking ballot measures pounced on the tragedy as a propaganda vehicle.  Their basic strategy was to pose as "mom-and-pop victims with no money to stop this spilling, but Big Bad Oil is putting zillions into the campaign."

Chevron Vindicated As Evidence Points To 'Green Fraud' By Environmentalists.  So what happened to the $19 billion judgment against Chevron over rainforest pollution in Ecuador?  Seems the leftist lawyer behind it all now finds himself in the dock on a RICO rap for a massive fraud.

Chevron takes shakedown lawyers to court in RICO trial.  [Scroll down]  While such tactics have traditionally been successful against big corporations with deep pockets, choosing to simply pay off the pests rather than spending the time and money to fight them, not so with Chevron.  The plaintiffs, led in large part by Manhattan lawyer Steven Donziger, tried to dig too deep, racking up a $19 B[illion] judgement in an Ecuador court based on what turned out to be a staggering series of apparently fraudulent ploys.  Chevron fought back and refused to cough up a dime.

Demoralize the anti-oil fringe.  It has become a familiar scene at major oil company annual meetings.  Protestors, some of whom have purchased token amounts of stock to appear, confound the proceedings by asking oil companies to exit their business in the name of the environment.  According to this fringe, oil companies have a responsibility to protect the planet from the scourge of fossil fuels.  Oil companies are portrayed as pushing their product while the planet overheats.  This black-and-white view of energy policy puts the global warming issue into a moral context.  It assumes everyone who believes in catastrophic climate-change theory is good, and those who don't are bad.  It also asserts that replacing fossil fuels will make the world better and "sustainable."

Obama budget would end oil industry tax breaks, hike royalites.  While the tax plans are dead on arrival on Capitol Hill — where lawmakers have rejected similar proposals many times before — they drew outrage from oil and gas industry leaders who said Obama was seeking to use the sector as a piggy bank.  The fiscal 2014 budget proposal aims to raise $2.5 billion over the next decade by raising the royalty rates for oil and gas produced on federal lands and waters, with the revenue steered toward a new Energy Security Trust for research in alternative fuels and vehicles.

Shocker: Oil companies pay the most in income taxes.  President Obama and the Democrats' calls for more revenue are almost never complete without some kind of shoutout to how we need to end loopholes for those treacherous, evil oil companies, but just a friendly reminder:  Oil companies provide for some of the most handsome portions of federal revenue already.

Big, Evil Oil Companies Pay Most in Taxes.  It's no surprise liberals love taxes.  The new Democratic Senate budget calls for $1 trillion in tax increases in order to offset $1 trillion in new spending.  But liberals who constantly demonize big oil are biting the hand that feeds and fulfills their big govenrment spending dreams.  It turns out, big oil companies like Exxon Mobile and Chevron pay [more] in taxes [than] any other company.

Who really owns Big Oil companies?  Research shows that the bulk of economic rewards reaped by the oil and gas sector are actually flowing back to everyday Americans.  Their success is boosting the financial futures of millions of working families all across the country.  Oil and gas companies have broad-based public ownership.

Israel Silent on Dems' Chevron Cash.  After Chevron contributed $2.5 million to a Republican Super PAC, Rep. Steve Israel (D., N.Y.), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, accused the oil company of looking for political payoffs. [...] Israel failed to mention that Chevron has contributed more than $84,000 to Obama.  Chevron has donated at least $16,000 to Senate Democrats and more than $38,000 to Israel's fellow House Democrats.

Obama Will Say and Do Anything.  "Big Oil" has become a favorite Obama target.  On March 29, 2012, Obama said, "Congress up until this point has thought it was a good idea to send billions more of your tax dollars to the oil industry."  Obama appealed to Congress to "stand with the American people" and vote to end subsidies to the oil and gas industry.  But there is one problem:  "Big Oil" receives tax incentives.  In no sense can what "Big Oil" receives be called a subsidy — the sending of "billions more of your tax dollars to the oil industry."  Further, the incentives (sometimes referred to as tax breaks) are available to any US company.

Progressives Now Blame "Big Oil" for... Everything.  In typical Center for American Progress (CAP) partisan fashion, Daniel Weiss manages to blame oil companies for the price of gasoline, America's overspending problem, the inefficiency of biofuels, and for not drilling on land the federal government refuses to lease.  But don't let 'em off so easy, Mr. Weiss, oil and natural gas producers are also responsible for the Iraq war, world hunger, and that time I wrecked my ATV and broke my arm (it was powered by gasoline!).

Dems propose 'Reasonable Profits Board' to regulate oil company profits.  Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a "Reasonable Profits Board" to control gas profits.  The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a "windfall profit tax" as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation.  The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit.

Debunking the big-oil subsidy myth.  The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to warn against "semantic infiltration" — employing less-than-accurate words in an effort to shape the debate.  Moynihan's caution is often ignored, but it's still worth calling out the offenders.  Among them is a favorite think tank of the Obama administration, the Center for American Progress (CAP), which regularly insists that taxpayers are "subsidizing big oil companies."  That's simply not true.

Gasoline and Onions.  Oil companies today are no more greedy or clever than they have been all along.  We have to look for a better explanation — and it isn't hard to find.  Demand for oil rises with the growth of China, India and other developing countries.  When poor people get a little richer, they buy cars, computers and refrigerators.  They burn more fuel to make them and to run them.  Rising demand, other things being equal, increases prices.  And other things have not been equal.

The Administration's Big Oil Lie.  The hearing was called ostensibly to support the Democrats' Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act, a bill with no chance of passage.  Its purpose was to once again deflect blame for rising gas prices caused in large part by the Obama administration's ban on increasing domestic supply of fossil fuels.  Shell Oil President Marvin Odum laid the blame for high gas prices at the administration's feet, where it belongs.

Krauthammer rips oil company congressional 'show trials': 'A disgrace'.  Beating up on oil companies has always been low-hanging fruit for politicians when gasoline prices are high.  And as the country is headed into the summer driving season, gas prices are certain to go higher, giving Democrats the opportunity to play that card.  But such politicking isn't going unnoticed or without criticism.

Myths About Oil and Gas:  Instead of facing the reality of his owned failed policies, President Obama is calling for an end to the "tax giveaways" he claims amount to $4 billion in "subsidies" to the energy industry.  This tactic isn't surprising given the effect that rising gas prices have on the President's approval ratings and his obsession with re-election.  But, less than truthful innuendos and political spin hardly helps American working families that are getting hammered at the pump.

About Those Oil Subsidies:  Everyone wants to end subsidies to oil companies, from President Obama to John Boehner and Paul Ryan.  My question was "What subsidies?"  Remarkably enough, CNN Money provided the answer.  It turns out that they are all tax "breaks."  I even hesitate to call them "breaks" because some of them amount to little more than Congress defining accounting terms such as "capital equipment."  And the total amount of earnings not collected in taxes (which liberals define as a "subsidy") is about $4 billion per year.

Oil industry profits:  [Scroll down to page 7]  While large in absolute dollar amounts, oil industry profits are modest when measured as net income on each dollar of revenue.  Over the past five years, the industry's net income was only 5.7 cents per dollar of revenue, hardly different than the 5.5 cents average for all industries.  Oil industry profits are also highly cyclical.  The oil industry goes through repeated boom and bust cycles as prices vary but high levels of investment in capital and exploration must be maintained.  Today's high profits pay for investments made in the past that did not generate returns for investors because of low gasoline prices.  Finally, the oil industry pays high taxes already.  ExxonMobil reported net after-tax earnings of $40.6 billion in 2007, paid $30 billion in corporate taxes that year, and had an effective tax rate of about 40 percent, much higher than other industries.  Other oil companies reported similarly high tax rates.

Facts versus Myths about the US Energy Industry.  Most people seem to have a misunderstanding as to the nature of the oil and gas industry, their impression being formed only by the large multi-national integrated oil companies who make "billions of dollars of profit".  In actuality, the industry consists of thousands of companies ranging from one-person independents to the large multi-national integrated oil companies.  Another long standing misunderstanding is that the 5 super-large companies work together to control the price of oil.  If that were true, then the companies would not have allowed the low prices of 1996 to 2000, nor would they allow the current unstable oil prices.

Big Oil Democrats:  Here is how you know Republicans are on the winning side of the oil drilling issue.  It's not that two-thirds of the American people support offshore drilling.  It's that the Democratic response has been to simply point at Republicans and shout, "Big Oil!"

Extorting Big Oil.  On the surface, it has all the makings of a classic David vs. Goliath tale — an ostensibly exploitative multinational oil company plundering the pristine rain forests of impoverished, indigenous inhabitants. ... In short, this lawsuit is nothing more than a politicized attempt by the Ecuadoran government to extort money from a deep-pocket, American oil company.

The Onion Ringer.  Congress is back in session and oil prices are still through the roof, so pointless or destructive energy legislation is all but guaranteed.  Most likely is stiffer regulation of the futures market, since Democrats and even many Republicans have so much invested in blaming "speculators" for $4 gas.  Congress always needs a political villain, but few are more undeserving.

An Energy Sarbox.  While some kind of crackdown on the U.S. oil futures market is inevitable after so much political agitation, Congress has begun to believe its own demagoguery.  The Senate may vote on a bill this week that will drive commodities trading overseas and decrease oversight and market transparency.  Call it a Sarbanes-Oxley for energy.

Oil Rally Topped Dot-Com Craze in Speculators' Mania.  Crude rose 697 percent since trading at $17.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in November 2001, and reached 28 record highs this year.  The last time a similar pattern was seen in equities was eight years ago, when Internet-related stocks sent the Nasdaq Composite Index up 640 percent to its highest level ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Bespoke Investment Group LLC.

In Defense of Oil and Gas Speculators:  Despite Congress' periodic hauling of weak-kneed oil executives before their committees to charge them with collusion and price-gouging, subsequent federal investigations turn up no evidence to support the charges.  Right now oil company executives are getting a bit of a respite as Congress has turned its attention to crude oil speculators, blaming them for high oil prices and calling for tighter control over commodity futures trading.

Dems willing to criticize oil despite holding stock.  More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress critical of oil companies have investments in the industry, according to a review of lawmakers' financial assets.  At least 14 Democratic members of the House and one senator have holdings ranging from several thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars in companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. or partnerships such as Schlumberger and Hornbeck Offshore Services.

Why Big Oil is not to blame for fuel prices:  Anyone with an understanding of basic supply and demand economics knows well enough that Big Oil is not the big player in the energy market.  More often than not the oil majors are just as helpless in the face of global market forces as any other consumer.  Why are energy prices sky-high?  In a word:  geopolitics.  The rapidly expanding economies of China and India, with a joint population of over 2 billion, have become increasingly voracious consumers of energy.  China's economic growth alone is running at nine percent and, over coming years, will only accelerate.

Unleash America's Energy Potential.  As any driver can tell you, the pain at the pump is pretty acute right now.  It's a simple matter of supply and demand.  Demand is up (thanks, in part, to an increasing appetite for fuel in China and India), and supply is low.  And if there's one thing that makes the pain worse, it's knowing that supply doesn't have to be this low.  Are the ridiculously high prices we're paying the fault of the big, bad oil companies?  No, the lion's share of the blame goes to politicians, who have locked away vast amounts of American energy — both oil and natural gas.

The 'Idle' Oil Field Fallacy.  Anyone with even the most basic understanding of how oil and natural gas are produced — and this should include many members of Congress — knows that claims of "idle" leases are a diversionary feint.  A company bids for and buys a lease because it believes there is a possibility that it may yield enough oil or natural gas to make the cost of the lease, and the costs of exploration and production, commercially viable.  The U.S. government received $3.7 billion from company bids in a single lease sale in March 2008.  However, until the actual exploration is complete, a company does not know whether the lease will be productive.

Idle Leases — Or Addled Minds?  Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Rep. Nick Rahall, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress who oppose producing more American oil are in a bind.  They know voters are hurting from high gas prices and overwhelmingly want the government to allow more American oil production.  But they can't side with the American people and risk upsetting their left-wing base.  So they needed a way to make us think they support more drilling — while effectively preventing us from ever drilling a single new well.

Obama's Dry Hole:  "I want you to think about this," Barack Obama said in Las Vegas last week.  "The oil companies have already been given 68 million acres of federal land, both onshore and offshore, to drill.  They're allowed to drill it, and yet they haven't touched it — 68 million acres that have the potential to nearly double America's total oil production."  Wow, how come the oil companies didn't think of that?  Perhaps because the notion is obviously false….

The Editor says...
The oil companies haven't been "given" anything.  Oil companies have spent billions of dollars for those leases.*

Oil Leases on '68 Million Acres' No Guarantee of Oil, Experts Say.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says a Republican plan to expand domestic oil drilling — instead of forcing oil companies to drill on the 68 million acres they've already leased — is a "hoax" and "unworthy of serious debate."  But the nation's oil producers say Pelosi is being disingenuous, because federal regulations restrict their exploration on the leased land, while much of the 68 million acres is already "tapped out" of oil.

Who's Hoarding America's Oil?  The truth is, over 96% of the lands that belong to the taxpayer haven't even been leased by the government so that energy exploration might occur.  Consumers are paying for this failure at the pump and in utility bills.  Some are even paying for it with their jobs.  But instead of opening new areas to energy exploration and production, some in Congress have taken to diversionary tactics.  Take, for example, the mysterious "68 million acres" myth.

Congress returns to gridlock over oil drilling.  Mrs. Pelosi last month said she will introduce energy legislation in the coming weeks that might include opening portions of the outer continental shelf for drilling — a provision Democratic leaders previously had opposed.  The measure also would include a "use it or lose it" provision that would force oil companies to surrender oil and gas leases on federal land they're not drilling on, and prohibit these companies from acquiring new leases.

The Editor says...
In other words, "Find oil on the land you have leased, or you won't be permitted to look elsewhere."  The logic escapes me.

Facts beat talking points.  The problem with the energy debate is that most of the "facts" we hear on the radio and cable news are really just talking points from folks who mostly don't know what they are talking about.  The Democrats — as if they all received the same e-mail Wednesday — are arguing that the oil companies have plenty of places to drill, and isn't it very curious that they aren't?

Some wonder if speculators are fueling oil run-up.  With American motorists struggling to pay record-high gasoline prices, a debate rages in the halls of Congress and across the Oil Patch over the role speculators may be playing in driving up oil prices.  Crude prices have rocketed nearly $70 a barrel in the past year.  Some energy experts suggest speculation could account for $20 to $30 of that run-up.

Should the Oil Company Executives Go on Trial?  Obama science guru John Holdren isn't sure.  Michael Egnor, writing for the Science & Public Policy Initiative, reports on a television show last year when Holdren was asked about trying company executive for "crimes against humanity" for doubting global warming...

Oil firms' profits keep dropping as recession shrinks demand for energy.  The world's biggest oil companies are reporting sharp declines in quarterly profit as the recession continues to weigh on consumer demand, driving down energy prices.  Exxon Mobil, the world's largest oil company by market value, said Thursday [10/29/2009] that its third-quarter profit slumped 68 percent, to $4.73 billion (98 cents per share).




"Windfall profit" taxes

Only the stockholders of an oil company are entitled to share its profits.

What Is a 'Windfall' Profit?  To pay for "stimulus" checks of $1,000 for families and $500 for individuals, the Senator says government would take "a reasonable share" of oil company profits.  Mr. Obama didn't bother to define "reasonable," and neither did Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, when he recently declared that "The oil companies need to know that there is a limit on how much profit they can take in this economy."  Really?  This extraordinary redefinition of free-market success could use some parsing.

Please define what a "windfall profits" tax is.  Liberals like to bleat about the oil companies making "windfall profits" as if there is some point when making a profit is bad.  So the Wall Street Journal asks what the definition is of a "windfall profit."  This is important to know because Senator Obama has proposed giving each American family a stimulus check of $1000 paid for by a windfall profits tax on the oil companies.

More Taxes Will Mean Less Oil.  Democrats say there should be a limit to the profits oil companies can make.  Should there also be a limit on the taxes government can take?  Just who's the profiteer here?

Windfall taxing big oil:  how to make the gas crisis worse.  Yes, it's true that Exxon's recent quarterly profits were, at near $12 billion, big.  It's also worth noting that turnover was $138 billion, giving them a margin on sales of 9 percent:  which isn't really, anything much to write home about. … The reason the profits number is a huge one is because the business itself is a huge one.

In Defense of 'Big Oil':  Senate Democrats last week sought to ingratiate themselves with voters, while doing nothing to produce more energy, with a familiar attack on "big oil."  They want to repeal $17 billion in tax breaks for the oil companies over 10 years and on top of that impose a windfall profit tax on companies that don't invest in new energy sources.  This is political expediency at its worst.

Energy charade:  There's no way to put this politely.  Raising taxes on U.S. oil companies and calling it an energy plan is just about the dumbest idea the Democrats have come up with yet.  Democrats call it "a windfall profits" tax, and it is at the heart of their plan to deal with punishing oil prices nearing $140 a barrel and skyrocketing gas prices that have crossed the $4-a-gallon threshold at the pump.  Their proposed tax increase will not produce a drop more oil.  In fact, it will reduce supplies.  And it will not lower oil prices, either.  It will make oil more expensive, because oil company costs would rise as a result of higher taxes.

Things I Don't Believe:  Didn't we try this with the Carter administration at the tag end of the 1970s? … The windfall profits tax of the Carter years was, however, a dandy way to cap every small well in the country.  And reduce production in general.  (Why produce more in order to have the profits taxed away?)  A tax is a great way to cut down on supply and therefore increase demand and, with it, prices.

The "Big Oil" Witch Hunt:  [Members of Congress] — themselves guilty of thwarting American energy independence — are poisoning the minds of gullible Americans against the very oil companies that reliably supply us with essential fuels, and would be producing even more (resulting in lower prices) if Congress weren't blocking them from doing so.  When it comes to energy, Congress is the problem and Big Oil is part of the solution.  The longer it takes Americans to perceive this, the longer our energy woes will continue.

Dumb or Ill-Informed?  What assumptions do congressmen make about the American people?  Do they assume that we're dumb or ill-informed about the energy problems we are experiencing?  Every time there has been a huge spike in gasoline prices, Congress hauls oil company executives before their committees to accuse them of greed, obscene profits and price-fixing.  One federal investigation after another of supposed oil company misconduct turns up nothing to substantiate congressional allegations.

Out of Energy.  Colorado's $23 billion-a-year oil and gas industry is keeping the state's economy afloat, but Governor Bill Ritter and his fellow Democrats are promoting new rules and tax hikes that would drive business elsewhere. … Ritter and his allies in the environmental movement are also seeking to raise taxes on energy producers.  In many mineral-rich states, energy producers have to pay what is called a severance tax on any oil or gas they take out of the ground.

Phony 'Emergency'.  [Scroll down]  Sen. Obama seems to be trying to take advantage of reports that Exxon Mobil reported record second-quarter income — indeed, the highest quarterly profit for any corporation ever. But the reality is that as Obama and his equally unknowing friends push windfall taxes, Exxon Mobil has already given the U.S. a massive windfall. As economist Mark Perry has noted, Exxon Mobil will pay more taxes this year to the U.S. Treasury than the bottom 50% of all taxpayers — combined.

Obama and McCain Spout Economic Nonsense.  Why should we stop with oil companies?  They make about 8.3 cents in gross profit per dollar of sales.  Why doesn't Mr. Obama slap a windfall profits tax on sectors of the economy that have fatter margins?  Electronics make 14.5 cents per dollar and computer equipment makers take in 13.7 cents per dollar, according to the Census Bureau.  Microsoft's margin is 27.5 cents per dollar of sales.

The Wrong Way to Kick An Oil Habit.  High oil prices, like a walk under the summer moon, can drive normally rational people to do foolish things they later regret.  For Barack Obama, it is a fling with a windfall profits tax on American oil companies — one of the most thoroughly discredited economic policies of the past few decades.  A 2006 Congressional Research Service report found that Jimmy Carter's version of the tax generated less than one-fourth of expected government revenue while depressing domestic oil output between 1.2 percent and 8 percent and increasing dependence on imported oil between 3 percent and 13 percent.

Putting Up The 'For Shale' Sign.  Democrats will say Exxon and its unindicted co-conspirators still make obscene profits.  The fact is that American oil companies in 2007 had an 8.3% profit margin, compared with 8.9% for all U.S. manufacturing.  The cigarette and beverage companies' profit margin was 19.1%.  Drug companies made 18.4%.

Thank you, Big Oil.  Before you get all excited about tearing down the energy industry, stop and think for a moment about what makes your comfortable life possible.  Your heat and most of your electricity are provided through the burning of oil and natural gas.  The thousands of plastic items in your home, car and office are all made from crude oil.  Much of your clothing is woven of fibers made from petroleum.  Without the hard work and ingenuity of the men and women who work for the energy companies, we would be living in the 17th century….

Windfall-Profit Nonsense:  Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama want to raise the price of oil, as well as most everything else, and lower the value of the pension and mutual funds that union members and retirees depend on.  Of course, they don't describe their plan that way.  Instead, they call for a windfall-profits tax on the oil companies.  But it's the same thing.  Taxing a "windfall" sounds appealing, but stock prices are based on expected profits.

GOP nixes Democrat-backed tax on oil companies.  Senate Republicans today successfully blocked a vote on a Democratic- written energy package intended to slap the major oil companies with a new windfall profits tax and roll back other tax breaks the industry now enjoys.

$4 Gasbags:  Anyone wondering why U.S. energy policy is so dysfunctional need only review Congress's recent antics.  Members have debated ideas ranging from suing OPEC to the Senate's carbon tax-and-regulation monstrosity, to a windfall profits tax on oil companies, to new punishments for "price gouging" — everything except expanding domestic energy supplies.  Amid $135 oil, it ought to be an easy, bipartisan victory to lift the political restrictions on energy exploration and production.

Stop Whining And Blaming Oil Companies.  First, the bad news:  Nothing — and I mean nothing — the U.S. government does can stop the rise in the price of oil in the short run.  Stopping buys for the emergency stockpile will have no effect at all.  These purchases are less than one-tenth of one percent of daily worldwide demand.  Cancelling the purchases is precisely the same as not paying life insurance premiums when you're worried about money.  It is nonsense.

The "Problem" Of Human Freedom:  Could it be that a foolish and abusive use of governmental power is a causal factor with our energy woes?  Could it be, as [Bill] O'Reilly suggested, that our government's (and Mrs. Clinton's) prohibition of domestic energy development is part of the reason we are now held hostage to the "monopoly" of OPEC?  Not so, for Hillary.  In her leftist world, the problem is that American citizens are enjoying too much freedom.  "Consumers" and "drivers" behave badly, they drive too much, and they drive the "wrong" vehicles; and American oil corporations (just as President Carter told us in the 1970's) are once again raking in "windfall profits."

Oil companies spend more on taxes than on oil supply development.  Over the last several the major oil companies have been driven away from investing money in future exploration and production.  The so-called Supermajors, Exxon, BP, Shell, Chevron. Conoco, and Total have paid more in taxes than they have invested in the oil business.  For the three year period, 2005 to 2007 these companies have paid $292 billion in taxes and invested $265 billion in capital projects.

No such thing as obscene profits.  Profit isn't a shameful accident for corporations — it's their very reason for being.  Big profits help them do more of what they did to make the profit in the first place.  In the case of oil companies, that means more exploration, development, drilling, pumping, refining, transporting and marketing of the oil that fuels every aspect of our economy. … Of course, at the moment it's frustrating to pay more at the pump, but oil profits aren't the culprit, nor would punishment of the energy companies help to bring down the cost of fuel.

Strangling Oil:  As any economist will tell you, "price-gouging" per se doesn't exist.  There is only supply and demand. … To add more dependable sources, the U.S. should be developing oil in the Alaskan National Wilderness Reserve (sic) and on the continental shelf, where literally billions of barrels of oil await.  But we aren't.  That's the supply side.

The Editor says...
Good article, but ANWR is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Is Oil the Root of All Evil?  Lives per Gallon gratuitously excoriates the oil companies and places blame for every conceivable ill facing the world — from air pollution to thievery — on their product.  Replete with homilies to past civilizations, such as the Rapa Nui, and fearsome examples of devastated ecosystems like Pacific Ocean kelp beds, Tamminen assaults not only petroleum, but modern technological-based life.

Oily politicians.  If there is anything worse than partisan demagoguery, it is bipartisan demagoguery.  Republican leaders have now joined the Democrats in blaming the oil companies for the fact that prices rise when demand expands more than supply.  Prices have been rising under these conditions for thousands of years, long before there were any oil companies.  This has happened with everything from food to furs and it has happened among people in every part of the world.

Oily politicians:  Part II.  World demand for oil has risen out of all proportion to the amount of oil supplied.  That is the problem and prices are a symptom of that problem.

Oil Is Well.  I see that the media and the left-wing foundations are in a state of hysteria over oil company profits.  Exxon Mobil reported profits of about $10 billion for the last quarter of 2005, and this has driven certain people who don't really know a lot about the oil business … insane.

Governmental Viscosity Breakdown:  Members of Congress, such as Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, who … manages to exude split-atom energy when it comes to cheerleading for bad ideas, are calling for a windfall profits tax on the oil companies.  Of course, the tax would be passed on to consumers, but Congress will deal with that later — it'll be good fodder for calling for the federalization of the oil industry.  In a Beltway culture that confuses motion with action, windfall profits taxes are but flailing victims in the quicksand of lunacy.

Clinton Seeks 'Energy Revolution' Fueled by Tax on Oil Profits.  Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) Tuesday [5/23/2006] called for an "energy revolution" based on greater fuel efficiency and a $50 billion research fund financed largely through higher taxes on oil company profits.  A GOP spokesman responded that the plan is just "partisanship, political pandering and yesterday's mistakes."

Control Freak:  Hillary Clinton says our trade deficit and reliance on foreign investors are big problems, and wants to fix them.  But her cure would be far worse than the disease, and should be rejected out of hand.

We are all Marxists now.  National Public Radio's Juan Williams, appearing on Fox News Sunday, insisted repeatedly that "supply is at an eight year high" as proof that the oil companies are cheating us.  He kept repeating the phrase, as if that would make it a more sensible statement.  It didn't. … Frustrated by his inability to convince others of his nonsense, Williams then insisted that there is no connection between supply and demand.

Big awl and gasbags.  Though some of the stated bases for the alarmism of the Sixties and Seventies may have changed (example:  from global cooling to global warming), their bogeymen/targets remain the same.  No matter what environmental scare they have sported from time to time, the culprits are always the same.  The foremost villain, of course, is America, home of the rich, greedy, and voracious consumers of the earth's resources.  Next, are big corporations, whose favorite sadistic pastime is to pollute.

You Can't Always Get What You Want.  Calling for a probe of oil companies for possible manipulation of gas prices is Bush's latest nonconservative position. … He could have said, no, the free market is working properly.  That, while basically true, would no doubt have further injured his political standing.  Instead, he moved to take control of the issue and protect himself politically.  Two days later, the president conceded he had "no evidence that there's any ripoff taking place."  Of course he hadn't.  That wasn't the point of his intervention.

Punishing big oil:  Intended to punish the oil industry for making so much money, the provision actually would increase American dependency on foreign oil producers.

Senate Approves $5 Billion in New Oil Company Taxes.  The U.S. Senate on November 17, 2005 voted to impose nearly $5 billion in taxes on oil companies in response to record oil company profits.  The Senate rejected three amendments that would explicitly assess "windfall profits" taxes on the oil industry, but nevertheless changed longstanding accounting rules in ways that are expected to add $5 billion to the oil companies' tax burdens over the next two years.

Oil Industry Posts Record Profits in 2005.  "You need to make money to spend money," said oil industry analyst John Parry, senior vice president of John S. Herold, Inc. of Norwalk, Connecticut.  "If we go back to the 1990s, the oil companies were making less than 5 percent on their capital.  If you were to average profits over about a 10-year period, which is the cycle of investment, they have not earned excessive amounts.  This is a cyclical industry.  You may have seven or eight down years and two or three good years.

MoveOn Targets McCain on Offshore Drilling and 'Obscene' Oil Profits.  MoveOn.org, the liberal grassroots group, has unveiled a television ad campaign on energy that is an attack on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and his support for offshore drilling.  But free-market critics say the ad reflects more about MoveOn's ignorance of economics than it does politics.




Refineries

Hess to close last refinery in New Jersey.  This story went mostly under the radar, but it will have some implications for many people on the east coast and for the industry in general further down the line.  Without much fanfare, Hess recently announced that they were selling off their last commercial refinery, located in New Jersey.  Their stated reasons are clear enough, but there's a bit more to the story.

Republican Bill Would Encourage New Refinery Building.  House Republicans [are trying to] drum up support for a bill that would "expedite" the construction of new oil refineries in the United States. … But environmental groups and others oppose the bill….

Graphic 'borrowed' from ibdeditorials dot com


Our Thorny Oil Patch.  When America's biggest oil refiner contemplates putting almost a third of its refineries on the market, Congress should sit up and take notice.  The business climate it has created is hurting our economy.

Number of operating refineries 1982-2007.  Shows a steady decline from 254 in 1982 to 145 in 2007.  (Not including operable but "idle" refineries.)

Kuwait May Build Oil Refinery in Louisiana, Boost U.S. Capacity.  Kuwait, the Middle East's fourth-largest oil producer, is seeking a "mid-sized" U.S. partner like Marathon Oil Corp. to build a refinery in the U.S. with as much as 400,000 barrels a day of output….

Blended fuels may spike the price at the pump.  Record crude oil costs are largely responsible for today's $4 gas prices, but regulators continue to study another factor blamed for regional price spikes in the past — the high number of unique fuel blends used to fight air pollution.  These so-called "boutique" fuels arose from various federal and state laws enacted since the early 1990s.  The blends — more than a dozen nationwide — are designed to help curb emissions in some of the largest U.S. cities, including Houston.

Why I'm Voting for John McCain:  Democrats insist that we shouldn't drill off the Pacific coast or in Alaska or in the Dakotas because they claim we wouldn't get a drop of oil for at least 10 years.  And that's true, but only if the same left-wing idiots who are more concerned with moose than with people won't allow the oil companies to build new refineries.  Also, even if it were true that we wouldn't be any better off for an entire decade, what do you suppose they'll be saying in 2018, when gas is going for 25 bucks a gallon?



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