This...???
Well... I suppose SOME of you did.
(*SMILING WHILE POKING MY BUDDY RODAK IN THE RIBS*)
Anyway... here's what I'm referring to:
Who is really in charge of our public lands and resources? The American public — or the radical left?
The recession continues to worsen. Stores and companies are closing their doors. Millions are unemployed. Families are struggling to pay for homes, food, cars and fuel.
President Obama just signed a controversial, pork-laden, trillion-dollar "stimulus" package. We'll spend another $350 billion this year on imported oil.
And with the stroke of a pen, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar canceled 77 Utah oil and gas leases that had gone through seven years of studies, negotiations and land-use planning. In an instant, he eliminated hundreds of jobs, terminated access to vital oil and gas deposits, and deprived taxpayers of millions in lease bonus, rent, royalty and tax revenues.
Change... change is coming...
(*BOWING MY HEAD IN CONTEMPLATION OF THE GLORIES AWAITING US AS THE AGE OF OBAMA UNFOLDS*)
The canceled leases represent one-third of acreage estimated to contain enough oil to fuel 3 million cars and enough natural gas to heat 14 million homes for 15 years. They were rejected because temporary drilling operations might be "visible" from several national parks more than a mile away.
Sure...!!! Makes perfect sense...!!! After all... we must be willing to sacrifice... right? What's a little fuel shortage between friends...?!?! Once the Obama Hope and Change Plants come on line producing fuel for 21st century America all will be right with the world!
(*GENUFLECTING TOWARDS MY 2009 OBAMA CALENDAR - PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER*)
Secretary Salazar is supposedly a moderate on land use and energy development. But this decision, after one week in office, suggests that he actually has strong anti-energy attitudes — or is too easily "persuaded" by environmental pressure groups.
They've already eliminated logging and mining in most of the West. They're now going after oil, gas, coal, oil shale and uranium — and after that ranching and snowmobiling.
Hey... who NEEDS logging... who needs mining?!
HOPE will bring the CHANGE we need - and as for the unemployed loggers and miners...
(*SHRUG*)
Anti-energy zealots always say these areas only have three weeks or, at most, a few months of oil. But by this logic, why conserve, recycle or reduce pollution? Your personal contribution is trifling. Why plant corn or wheat? Your fields won't make a dent in world hunger.
Obviously, it's the cumulative impact that matters.
(*LEAPING UP IN RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION*)
How DARE the author of this heresy QUESTION our G... er... our President and his lac... appointees as they create a NEW KIND of wisdom out of HOPE... and... er... CHANGE...!
Ask NOT what sense the "logic" of the so-called "zealots" makes... ask instead, how we - the ignorant, imprisoned by our own odd attraction towards reason - may best work to subjugate the common good (and common sense) to those like President Obama and Secretary Salazar who understand that only via LESS power at HIGHER costs can America gain the moral high ground!
(And ain't that what it's all about...???) (*MIRTHLESS CHUCKLE FORESHADOWING DOOM*)
According to a 2008 Interior Department "inventory" of federal energy resources, 163 million acres of public lands are off-limits to oil and gas leasing. That's more than the total area of Montana and Wyoming combined.
These land withdrawals make 62% of the oil and 41% of the natural gas in our nation's onshore public lands unavailable — along with the jobs and revenues that developing these vital resources would provide. Another 65 million acres are severely restricted — for an additional 30% of our onshore federal oil and 49% of our gas.
That's right. An area the size of Texas and Oklahoma, 92% of our onshore publicly owned oil, and 90% of our onshore natural gas — are off-limits to Americans suffering through this recession.
(*SHRUG*)
Seriously... you folks DO realize that these figures aren't made up... that THESE are the REAL figures... that this represents the REAL energy policies of this administration - right?
(*SIGH*)
(And yes... again... I am aware that some of you reading this actually DO believe that masochism is the path to grace...)
This precedent to cancel leases (or never issue them), because drilling rigs might be visible from park and wilderness areas, threatens to make millions of additional acres off-limits. Such shortsighted actions will destroy jobs and drive up energy prices and the cost of everything we eat and do.(*SIGH*)
Offshore, Secretary Salazar has stalled oil and gas drilling yet again, by extending the comment period of the current leasing plan another eight months. Americans rose up successfully during the summer of 2008, to end the decades-long congressional offshore drilling ban, because it was bad policy. Salazar's actions suggest we might be headed toward new anti-energy policies.
(*NOD*)
In the current economic gloom, there is no reason to revert back to the destructive policies that gave us $4-per-gallon gasoline and record-high heating bills.
UNLESS, of course, that's the long term GOAL of Obama, his administration, and the Democrats who control BOTH Houses of Congress...
(*SHRUG*) (*SIGH*)
Every American who supports a pro-energy agenda should contact the Department of the Interior (http://www.doi.gov/contact.html or 202-208-7351) and tell Secretary Salazar that developing all of our energy resources is the only reasonable option, if we want to create American jobs, improve the American economy, and support American national security.
AMEN...!!! BRAVO...!!! I 'll do so upon posting this. I urge those of you reading this who WANT plentiful, reasonably priced energy to be available to each and every American to do the same!
1 comment:
http://www.dcexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/Examiner-Opinion-Zone/A-Tax-to-Weaken-America-40508762.html
Excerpting...
President Obama said last Thursday that he would not cut spending “on investments that will make America stronger.” He really meant that he would pour money into alternative energy projects, paid and incentivized by a cap-and-trade program on fossil fuel use. The fact is that alternative energy cannot replace fossil fuels, and cap-and-trade imposes a massively expensive tax. Obama’s “investments” will weaken America, not make it stronger.
Agreed.
And we should not overlook the huge opportunity costs, as we pay more for the same amount of energy, diverting funds from more productive projects.
Yep! Every single additional red cent I spend on fuel or energy comes out of either the rest of my spending budget (i.e. my "stimulus" budget) or my savings (i.e. "investment" since I'm not hoarding the money under my mattress) budget. Paying MORE for the same - or LESS - is economic logic turned on its head. (Welcome to the Age of Obama...)
Now what about the cap-and-trade scheme? According to the Congressional Budget Office, the President’s budget includes revenues from the auctioning of carbon permits by 2012, probably reaching $300 billion by 2020. Of this, only $15 billion would be invested in alternative energy in the form of spending and tax incentives. The rest would be rebated back to consumers who have been forced to pay more for energy as a result of the program. In other words, the government will put us all on energy welfare. And as rebate schemes involve overhead costs such as employing bureaucrats to administer the schemes, the rebates will never cover the full amount of our increased costs.
(*SIGH*)
Rodak... even YOU must see that government as middleman siphons a percentage of all those billions... DESTROYS a percentage of all those billions from both a macro and micro economic perspective... (*SHRUG*)
At this point, alternative energy supporters may object that this is all worthwhile because it will avoid the “external” costs of carbon dioxide – specifically the future costs of global warming. The fact is that, even if you accept the idea that carbon dioxide is causing inexorable global warming, most economists agree that the costs amount to only a small additional cost on fossil fuel energy. Therefore, if we are paying more than 2.5c extra per kilowatt-hour of electricity, or 25c extra per gallon of gas, we are overpaying for the cost of avoiding global warming. To raise the sort of money Obama is talking about, emissions permits will have to sell for far more than that. Obama’s energy plan will not make us stronger, it will weaken us. It will not make us richer, it will impoverish us. If the President is looking for cuts in spending, his expensive and wasteful energy plan is the first place he should look.
Note: The author, Iain Murray, is a Director of Projects and Analysis and Senior Fellow in Energy, Science and Technology at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
BILL
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