Americans are paying more for gasoline today than they were six weeks ago when President Obama released 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In the Gulf of Mexico, meanwhile, 10 drilling rigs — more than one-third of the fleet — have left on Obama’s watch. This incomprehensible energy policy is not only costing Americans more money at the pump. Bureaucratic delays in Washington are also stunting job growth and adding to the budget deficit. As the Obama Administration pivots to a new jobs agenda — at …
As Americans continue to feel the effects of President Obama’s anti-oil agenda at the pump, defensive liberals are circling back to a familiar line of counter-attack: blame Bush. The media vacuum on gas prices has made this line of attack all the more promising with very little national coverage being given to the president’s destructive domestic drilling agenda. Unfortunately it misses an obvious point. President George W. Bush was mostly attacked for wanting to drill too much (or being “cozy” with the oil industry), while President Obama’s policies are rooted …
Anyone who has ever watched Law & Order knows that someone is held in contempt of court when they egregiously disrespect the role of the court and the rule of law. Holding someone in contempt is a powerful sanction in a judge’s arsenal to redress an intentional disregard for the law and the courts. So it is no small matter when yesterday Federal District Court Judge Martin Feldman held the Obama Interior Department in contempt of court for dismissively ignoring his ruling to cease the job-killing drilling moratorium imposed by …
Billions of dollars in potential oil revenue that could help close the federal deficit is being lost as a result of President Obama’s anti-drilling agenda. Production in the Gulf of Mexico — which normally accounts for about 30 percent of all U.S. production — is expected to drop this year by 220,000 barrels per day, according to projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. With oil currently at $90 a barrel and the royalty rate at 18.75 percent, that equals $3.7 million in lost revenue each day. If the agency …
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) announced today he would block the confirmation of Dr. Scott Doney to be chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration due to “concerns over scientific integrity at federal agencies and the White House.” These concerns stem from the recent Gulf offshore drilling moratorium and the ongoing lag in permit issuance since the ban was lifted in October. In a letter sent to President Obama today, Vitter characterizes it “as a continuing de facto moratorium.” Vitter also plans to hold a hearing before the Senate …
Just one day after meeting with the oil and gas industry in Houma, La., last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar unveiled the Obama administration’s “Smart from the Start” initiative to speed up the permitting process. Only this wasn’t permitting for offshore oil drilling, but wind farms off of the East Coast. “To fully harness the economic and energy benefits of our nation’s vast Atlantic wind potential,” Salazar said, “we need to implement a smart permitting process that is efficient, thorough, and unburdened by needless red tape.” If only Salazar would …
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar traveled to Louisiana on Monday to meet with oil and gas executives whose industry has been suffering from a “de facto” drilling ban since the government’s moratorium was lifted. Both of the state’s senators said Salazar failed to adequately address the core issues causing the logjam. Salazar’s trip to Houma to meet with industry leaders was made in exchange for Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) lifting of her hold on Jack Lew, President Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget. The state’s other senator, …
The deepwater drilling moratorium ended three weeks ago, but it could be months before the federal government issues its first new permit. In a meeting last week with members of the National Ocean Industries Association, U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement Director Michael Bromwich was vague when asked when his agency would issue a new deepwater permit. According to Oil & Gas Journal, he simply said he hoped it could happen before the end of the year. Deepwater drilling permits came to a halt after the Deepwater …
Shallow-water rig workers and those in industries unrelated to oil drilling are losing their jobs and being denied access to relief funds because of what Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) calls a “de facto shallow-water drilling ban.” Nearly $1 billion is going to Gulf Coast industries that are suffering in the aftermath of the BP oil spill, but many workers losing their jobs due to the drilling ban, imposed by the Obama administrations’ Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, are not eligible. BP’s $20 billion relief fund for those affected by the Gulf …
After the BP oil spill, the Obama Administration offered little excuse for instituting a moratorium on deepwater drilling regardless of the fact that it brought one of the Gulf Coast’s main industries to a sudden halt. Despite federal judge Martin Feldman’s ruling on the moratorium and despite a federal appeals court upholding that decision, the U.S. Department of Interior issued a new moratorium on deepwater drilling this afternoon. The new ban will not apply to a specific depth but instead “apply to any deep-water floating facility with drilling activities.” But …
