The Republican led House of Representatives just passed an energy bill that would help our country move in the right direction towards energy independence. But like most of the other important legislation that House Republicans have sent over to the Democratic-controlled Senate, this bill will either be shelved or voted down, even as gas prices in the United States hover around $4 a gallon and the prospects for higher gas prices are likely this coming summer. The Senate should act swiftly and pass this House energy bill.
President Obama has done his best to play energy politics at every opportunity while he has avoided enacting a bona fide energy policy that serves the national interest. Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline was a monumentally foolish decision that not only hurts us economically and kills jobs,it continues to leave us vulnerable to the whims of OPEC and to the increasingly dangerous regimes in Venezuela and Iran.
For starters, why aren’t we drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska? The ANWR region in Alaska is estimated to have 21 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, but these reserves have not been tapped because of unfounded concerns by environmental activists who believe drilling would endanger the environment and could cause catastrophic damage 'if' an accident were to happen.
These are the same people who opposed the initial building of the Alaskan pipeline partly due to concerns that the Caribou's migratory patterns would be interrupted— a claim which has subsequently been proven wrong, as the Caribou population has actually increased since the construction of the pipeline.
“Nowhere more than Alaska – Alaskans - would be impacted by development in ANWR. And here in Alaska, our constituents, the people who live here, want it drilled. So that tells you that we have confidence in the safety and the responsibility that we’ll see there with the development of ANWR... we’re talking about a sliver of the coastal plain of Alaska being explored and drilled for oil. It’s about a footprint of a 2000-acre plot of land. That’s smaller than the footprint of LAX, for instance.” -Governor Sarah Palin, 2008 Interview with Larry Kudlow
The recent rise in oil prices is partly fueled by the increasing tensions in the Middle East and concerns about a possible naval showdown in the straits of Hormuz. Coupled with the increasing threat that emanates from Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and his closer collaboration with Iran, it makes zero sense to continue with our self-defeating national energy policy that is intentionally putting the natural resources that reside under our feet off line to exploration and development.
It is incomprehensible that an American President could be so naively ignorant to the growing national security concerns we face or the fact that our lack of energy independence is really a national security issue. President Obama’s cynical approach to energy is harming this great nation in far too many ways, and if his Administration continues to double down on his failed set of energy policies, the economic ramifications of $5 a gallon gasoline won’t be very easy for him to ignore.
