Why We Need to Drill Here and Drill Now

[Geee]

Pajamas Media:

It is truly astonishing how the Obama administration has not only failed to address the problem of rising gasoline prices, but actually spent the last two years making the problem worse.

In 2008, with a federal offshore drilling ban in place and a Congress that cared little for allowing more domestic energy production, gasoline prices began to spike toward $4 per gallon. With billions of barrels available for development offshore, our government’s decision to keep those resources under lock and key received the justified scorn of Americans who suddenly had to work longer just so they could afford to drive to and from work.

With the entire country holding their feet to the fire — even then-candidate Obama reversed his position on offshore drilling — Congress finally lifted the offshore moratorium in September 2008.

So what did candidate Obama do when he became president? He and his administration spent two years recreating the same web of regulations and bans that led to record-high gasoline prices in the first place.

Upon taking office, President Obama’s Department of Interior, led by Ken Salazar, began taking deliberate steps to reduce domestic drilling. From canceling oil and gas leases throughout the American West to banning offshore production to refusing to issue deep water drilling permits, the Obama administration has imposed virtually the same regulatory agenda that Americas soundly rejected in 2008.