A recent Rasmussen poll finds that the average likely voter gets it as far as our national energy policy is concerned - or the complete lack of one due to far left ideology - and that is a bit of a silver lining from the dark cloud looming over us.
An overwhelming 76% of voters nationwide don’t believe the United States does enough to develop its own gas and oil resources. Only 15% think the country does do enough in this area.
Highlighting America's dependence on foreign oil, separate polling finds that Americans overwhelmingly believe the current political unrest in the Arab world will make them pay a lot more at the pump. Most voters have taken notice of the recent spike in gasoline prices and believe gas is likely to top the $5 mark by the beginning of summer.
A Pew Research Center poll finds the same: Drilling is also wildly popular with the public. A Pew Research Center poll from February showed 63 percent support for offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. Americans understand the fundamental points: The oil is there, and we need it. If we don’t drill it out, we have to buy it from other countries.
As I write this, crude oil is almost $107 per barrel. For anyone to feign shock or surprise about this is to admit complete denial of reality. Who possibly didn't see this rise in price coming? The sad fact is that we are dependent on foreign sources of crude oil because our political leaders refuse to make and keep a practical, common sense national energy policy. It has been like this for decades and we continue to reap the results of whistling past the graveyard. The nations with the large reserves are the nations that do not wish us well. They do not have our nation's best interests at heart.
It is a disgrace. The pinch at the gas pump does not have to be there at all. The political unrest in the middle east and north Africa will only continue the rise in prices. Now some Democrats are demanding the oil be released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). This is insane.
Only twice in its history has oil been released from the SPR. The last time was just after Hurricane Katrina.
Now, just as I predicted, the one drilling permit issued by the Interior Department last week as Sec Salazar went before the House Committee on Natural Resources is proven to be a stunt, a diversion from the fact that Salazar continues on in his far left ideological quest to kill the offshore oil drilling industry in the Gulf of Mexico. He has appealed the ruling by Judge Feldman that demanded Salazar's department rule on the five pending permits that have been held up since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April, 2010.
While oil drilling in the Gulf is being sorted out through the court system, world prices for oil are continuing to skyrocket. That point has frustrated many lawmakers, most notably Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who grilled Salazar last week on permits.
“[B]ut the point that seems to be amiss on this administration is that while current production might not be impacted, future production will be impacted,” said Landrieu over the weekend.
Republican Sen. David Vitter, also of Louisiana, chided the Obama Administration Monday for dragging its feet on the issue.
“I believe we should increase our supply right here at home by unshackling our domestic energy-producing economy, specifically in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Vitter. “Yet the Interior Department is still foot-dragging on permits while our Energy Department is actively seeking to make us more dependent on foreign sources of energy.”
If reserves from the SPR were released, where would the replacement crude come from?
1 comment:
It doesn't help that the current occupant of the White House is okay with gas getting up to $4/gallon. It'll reduce demand and stop global warming, or course.
The only way he'll do anything to bring oil prices back down is if it's politically expedient.
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