Gas prices, energy independence, and oil drilling

President Obama deliberately misleads the nation regarding gas prices, energy independence, and oil drilling time and time again. Although he says he wants gas prices lower – in reality, he just wants them low enough that he is not going to lose too many voters. In fact, his own Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu was reported in saying:

“Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe….”

Mr. Chu reportedly feels that if the gas prices are higher the American people will be more likely to buy energy efficient cars. Of course he later said that he didn’t mean it in that “way” but really, how else can you mean it?

The fact remains the gas prices have risen 67% since Obama took office and they are doing nothing about it.

Here are just a few of the many lies Obama has told the American people:

Lie #1:

“We can’t escape the fact that we control only 2% of the world’s oil.” 

This is 100% NOT TRUE! This is only counting the oil of America’s proven reserves in locations where we are already drilling. What this does not include is the following:

·         It does not include the 10 billion barrels available in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

·         It does not include most of the 86 billion barrels available offshore in the Outer Continental Shelf - most of which President Obama has placed under an executive drilling ban.

·         It does not include the 800 billion barrels of oil we have locked in shale in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Those shale resources alone are actually three times larger than the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia.

The claim that the U.S. only has 2% of the world’s oil is clearly false. Obama is clearly under the impression that if he says this enough times that the American people will just believe him.

Lie #2:

“Industry holds leases on tens of millions of acres both offshore and on land where they aren’t producing a thing.”

Again, Obama is relying on the ignorance of the American people to make it look like it is not the fault of his administration that gas prices are as high as they are. Here is why this statement is a lie:

·         A lease is for exploration and production, not just production. There is no guarantee that there is oil in any of the places companies have leases.

·         If there is oil, they have to guarantee that there will be enough oil there in order to cover the cost of the drilling. Many of these leases either don’t have oil at all, or don’t have enough oil.

·         Once the company finds oil they then have to get a permit. The government has made this process so complicated that it can take up to 10 years to get the permit to actually start producing oil.

As you can clearly see, Obama cannot blame the oil companies for our gas prices. It isn’t like they are just sitting there twiddling their thumbs watching the prices at the pump sky rocket – no, that is left for the current administration to do. As a side note – it is very ironic that Obama wants to tax the oil companies on their leases if they are not using them – even if the reason they aren’t using them is because they can’t get a permit from the federal government.

Lie #3:

“Last year…our oil production reached its highest level in 7 years.”

Obama is simply spinning the situation to make himself look good. Here are the reasons why:

·         The increased level of production is due to the actions of previous administrations not his own. He just fails to mention that in his speeches.

·         This is also counting the private land drilling that is happening in the Dakotas which Obama has had nothing to do with.

·         Interestingly enough, the Energy Information Administration projects that there will be a decline in production of 220,000 barrels of domestic oil per day in 2011, and in 2012 America will produce 150 million fewer barrels in the Gulf of Mexico -  all because of President Obama’s policies to discourage or ban domestic drilling.

·         In addition, President Obama’s drilling moratorium (and subsequent refusal to issue drilling permits) has forced at least 7 rigs to leave the Gulf and sign contracts in other countries, taking much needed jobs and revenue with them.

As if it isn’t enough the Obama continually lies about our oil – Mr. Obama recently delivered the American people and the American oil industry another huge blow. He is now giving Brazil billions of dollars so that they can drill for oil instead of us. This is not only costing America money that we don’t have but also jobs that we desperately need. This is definitely a lose-lose situation for America.

Even though Mr. Obama says he wants “energy independence” for America, this is a very clear sign that he is not interested in that at all. If he were, why on earth would he give this huge opportunity to another country and not our own.