By William Warren
With gas prices on the decline and a wave of Democratic leadership poised to engulf Washington, environmentalists believe now is the perfect time to enact their green agenda—including those agenda items the majority of Americans strongly oppose.
One such item on the agenda—perhaps the most eagerly anticipated by the green coalition—is the highly sought after renewal of the offshore and domestic drilling moratorium. After a lengthy back-and-forth fracas—which ALG News Bureau reported about on a nearly daily basis—Congressional Republicans succeeded in thwarting the greens’ agenda and allowing the moratorium to expire on October 1st of this year.
The markets, of course, took note and gas prices immediately plummeted. However, now that Americans are no longer suffering under $4 per gallon gas, liberal lawmakers believe a renewal of the drilling moratorium—bolstered by the looming Democratic-controlled Congress and White House—could pass without much commotion.
Commotion, which, is needed now more than ever.
Given the price volatility of the oil markets, the majority of Americans know better than to expect prices to cryogenically remain at the blissful level of $2 per gallon. Just as the oil market reacted positively to the news of the defeated moratorium, gas prices would undoubtedly skyrocket again if the domestic drilling ban and other energy-restricting legislation were enacted.
Moreover, given the latest round of massive deficit spending and bailout bills at the hands of the federal government, the country should expect nothing less than a swell in the price of energy and other commodities. This excessive federal hemorrhaging of money has had inflationary impacts on commodities before, and with the endless stream of bailouts, the past, to quote The Bard, is, indeed, prologue.
Which means now is the time to make enough commotion to prepare the country for the next spike in gas prices—whether it’s a month or a year down the road—or, grasping the higher hope, prevent it altogether.
Luckily, some in the government have already begun making this much needed commotion.
Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) is one of the Congressional conservatives sounding the alarm on a particularly virulent anti-energy omnibus bill. It is one Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and others are already trying to covertly pass under the table even before Barack Obama and the new crop of Democrats come to Washington. Along with a myriad of pork projects, the anti-energy omnibus bill would also deal a serious blow America’s hopes for energy independence.
As Senator Coburn said in a statement:
“Congress’ approval ratings are at an all-time low because the American people understand that never before in our nation’s history have the priorities of the United States Congress been more at odds with the priorities of the American people. The majority’s willingness to spend a week or more debating a lands bill loaded with frivolous projects and radical environmental provisions when we are facing our greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression is a case study in Congress’ misplaced priorities.”
The most egregious bill in the Reid anti-energy omnibus package would render 300 million barrels of oil in Wyoming completely untouchable, eliminating 15 years’ worth of domestic natural gas production. As the Senator from Oklahoma posits:
“The Senate should devote its full attention to our economic crisis, not a lower-priority and controversial lands bill. It’s unlikely anyone within the current administration or President-elect Obama’s transition team is looking to this bill to get our economy moving again…
“Congressional leaders have claimed that this bill is non-controversial and should pass automatically with no debate, no amendments and no recorded votes. Yet, more than 100 groups on the left and right find the bill controversial.”
Regardless of the fate of Reid’s latest atrocious omnibus bill, this situation should serve as a portentous sign of what’s to come under America’s new elected leadership. Liberal Democrats in the pocket of the environmentalists will do all they can to stifle energy exploration and in turn hold the economy hostage to the green agenda. The misguided, pseudo-religious ideology underpinning Global Warming alarmism will drive those in government to put green wants above citizen needs.
This is particularly troubling and frustrating in the wake of new reports suggesting that the United States has significantly more untapped domestic energy resources than was previously thought. One such report details how a brand new scientific study has found that 85.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas lies beneath Alaska’s North Slope, an area overlapping the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. As the article explains, this is enough energy to heat more than 100 million average homes for more than a decade. Just ask Sarah Palin.
Another recent article in Tuesday’s Bismarck Tribune explains how the Williston Basin in the Dakotas and Montana, once thought to have 150 million barrels of recoverable oil, is more likely to have 200 million barrels. This amount is in addition to the 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the adjacent Bakken shale formation, which the Geological Survey describes as the “largest continuous oil accumulation” it has ever assessed. As ALG News Bureau has covered extensively, the Bakken formation could play a crucial role in leading America to energy independence.
So with the supply of recoverable domestic energy ever increasing, why won’t the politicians allow the American people access to it? Why the rush to reinstate the drilling moratorium—and even extend its no-growth reach? Although the energy is abundant, the leadership is absent. And the Reid anti-energy omnibus bill is an insult to injury that cannot go unanswered.
In short, it’s time to cause some commotion.
William Warren is a contributing editor of ALG News Bureau.
