Democrats' addiction to hating energy production

Houston Chronicle:

With the price at the pump climbing to another record Tuesday, President Bush reiterated his call for Congress to open more areas for drilling while dismissing suggestions he stop adding crude to the nation's emergency oil stockpile.

...

Indeed, he deflated hopes the administration might be able to prod more production from Saudi Arabia, the powerhouse in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. "I have made the case ... the high price of oil injures economies," Bush said. "But I think we'd better understand that there's not a lot of excess capacity in this world right now."

Bush argued the high gasoline prices reflect a situation in which global oil production is not keeping up with growing demand.

"If Congress is truly interested in solving the problem, they can send the right signal by saying we're going to explore for oil and gas in the U.S. territories," starting with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Bush said.

The Energy Department, Bush said, estimates the wildlife preserve could yield a million barrels of oil a day — enough to make 27 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel.

"That would be about a 20 percent increase of ... crude oil production over U.S. levels, and it would likely mean lower gas prices," Bush said. "And yet such efforts to explore in ANWR have been consistently blocked."

Bush complained that Capitol Hill has come to equate support for drilling in the wildlife refuge with indifference about the environment.

He suggested a different equation: opposition to opening up the area means "you don't care about the gasoline prices that people are paying."

...

This is a key point that Republicans need to be making in this year's election. By strangling the supply of energy of all types the Democrats are driving up the cost of transportation and having comfortable homes. You can trace this price increase to the Democrats killing the ANWR bill and their attitudes about energy production since taking over Congress.

The Democrats can caterwaul all they want about oil company profits, but he profits on a gallon of gas are still less than the federal and state taxes on that same gallon of gas. That is what makes Chuck Schumer's suggestion that oil companies eat the federal tax so ridiculous.

Democrats are responsible for high gas prices. They can try to blame it on the oil companies, but the truth is, if they would allow more production, their the supply would increase and the price would drop. They can not repeal the laws of supply and demand anymore than Mugabe or Hugo Chavez can.