Democrat anti energy policy hits offshore leasing

Gannett News Service:

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday a Bush administration plan to open new offshore areas to oil and gas drilling would be delayed until September and likely will be changed considerably to limit new production.

On Jan. 20, the Bush administration’s last day in office, it released a new five-year plan for offshore oil and natural gas lease sales that opened up new areas in the Western Gulf of Mexico as well as several sites off the Atlantic, Pacific and Alaskan coastlines.

Salazar said Tuesday he plans to extend the public comment period on the plan, which would have expired in March. The 180-day extension will last until late September to give environmentalists, governors and others more time to weigh in on the plan.

“We will give all good ideas consideration,” Salazar said.

Salazar also said the Interior Department will use the extra time to develop a “framework” for determining the potential for wind, wave and ocean-current energy in offshore areas.

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I guess the Democrats politics of fraud got them through the election and now they can go back on their commitment to remove limits on domestic production. They knew Republicans were getting voters attention on the issue so they pretended to agree to get themselves through November. Obama did give some hints when he only committed to "look" at offshore production. I guess he has had his look.

Jack Gerard at the American Petroleum Institute said:

“Congress made the American people wait nearly 30 years to address our immediate energy challenges. Secretary Salazar today told the American people they must continue to wait – even though more than two-thirds of them want to tap our vast domestic resources for the benefit of all Americans.

“The accelerated Outer Continental Shelf five-year plan process, which the secretary placed on hold today, was designed to address the critical energy concerns facing Americans. The draft plan already received a record 120,000 comments from states, environmental groups, industry, labor groups and members of the public – with 87,000 of those comments supporting expanded and expeditious development.

"Secretary Salazar’s announcement means that development of our offshore resources could be stalled indefinitely. That would delay Americans’ access to nearly 160,000 new, well-paying jobs, $1.7 trillion in revenues to federal, state and local governments and greater energy security."

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At best this demonstrates the Democrats lack of seriousness in permitting domestic production. Their continued strangling of domestic production has driven up the cost of energy and transportation as it has enriched foreign suppliers.

It is ironic that Salazar would make this announcement the day after the President was in Elkhart, Indiana talking about unemployment in the recreational vehicle business. It is a business that Democrat energy policies were designed to kill and they appear to be well on their way to achieving that objective. One of the reasons lenders are reluctant to loan money on the construction of RVs or their purchase is the uncertainty caused by the Democrats' anti energy policy.

When you see the last paragraph of the API quote you can get an idea of what Obama's long look is going to cost all of us at a time when the economy needs both the jobs and the revenue.