As escalating tensions and chaos unfold in Egypt, Libya and other Middle Eastern countries, the cost of oil is pushed to more than $100 a barrel and gasoline prices continue to rise. Adding to the problem, the Obama administration has curtailed domestic oil and gas supplies.
If Obama continues down this path, America will be headed toward a national energy disaster, and our national security and economic recovery will be in jeopardy.
What are some of Obama’s anti-energy actions? First, the Interior Department defied a federal court order that lifted a ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and rather than comply with the judge’s orders, federal regulators stalled the issuing of permits.
The result was almost no drilling in the Gulf in six months. The six-month moratorium on offshore drilling has cost 8,169 jobs, according to a study by a Louisiana State University professor.
Furthermore, the administration is standing firm on a seven-year ban on new drilling in the Eastern Gulf and off the East Coast, has expanded by 100 miles the no-drill off the coast of Florida, and areas in America’s interior are off-limits to drilling as well as the oil-rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
Why can’t America develop its own resources? It is time to demand Congress override Obama’s anti-energy policies. We must lessen our dependence on foreign oil and drill at home. Our survival as a free and prosperous nation may depend on it.
Diana Thorn
Carpinteria