Democrats and the politics of fraud on energy bills

Power Line:

As we noted here, Senator John Cornyn is carrying on a discussion of energy policy on his web site this week. Yesterday, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin chipped in with a plea to open up ANWR for exploration and development. Some excerpts:

[T]he debate about energy policy is no longer theoretical or abstract. Our failure to enact an energy policy is having real consequences for every American in their daily lives and has begun to affect America's place in the world. Alaska is ready, willing, and able to assist the nation in addressing our acute and expanding energy needs. Like many other states, we would like the opportunity to help.

Congressional approval of responsible petroleum development in the coastal plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) - the most promising unexplored petroleum province in North America - would be of incalculable benefit to my state and our nation.

As this is written, the Alaska Legislature is considering proposals to commercialize and transport the vast quantities of clean-burning natural gas that are located on the North Slope.

Already, 32 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves have been identified, and many trillions of additional cubic feet are thought to exist on the North Slope and in off shore areas of Alaska.

The Democrats, meanwhile, are busily trying to fool the American people into believing that they are doing something about high gasoline prices. Today they will bring to the floor of the House the "Drill Responsibly on Leased Land" act in order to convey the false impression that they, like a large majority of Americans, want to drill for oil and gas to meet the country's energy needs.

In fact, the Dems' cobbled-together statute won't generate a single barrel of new oil production. It contains a series of provisions that add nothing to existing law or existing energy production capabilities. The "Drill" Act would re-enact the "use it or lose it" concept that is already the law, i.e., energy leases that are not exploited within a given period of time expire. It purports to "open up" land in Alaska for oil exploration. But the land in question is NPR-A, not ANWR....

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The area they are pretending to open up is already open, but production is blocked by Democrat interest groups who are fighting to make this less desirable track unusable. It is another example of their con job on energy. This fraud needs to be exposed by the Republicans in the debate on this issue. One who has been doing so is Sen. John Cornyn. He deserves your support.