Obama’s Pump Dream
March 7, 2012 by John Myers
“This president, systematically, is doing everything he can to raise the price of energy in this country. He’s shutting down all sorts of opportunities for us to drill for oil.”
–Rick Santorum
If you think gasoline is expensive now, just wait and see the price at the pump if Barack Obama is re-elected. His policies have steadily dragged the country toward $5 per gallon. If he gets another term in office, affordable gas will be a faint memory. And that will have Obama and his Green backers tickled pink.
The Obama Administration doesn’t seem to care that every 1 cent increase in the price of gasoline costs the economy $1.4 billion. America is becoming more dependent on Muslim oil while turning its back on a half-century energy alliance with Canada. This has been made evident by the President’s rejection of the Keystone Pipeline.
When Obama was sworn into office, the price of gasoline was $1.80 a gallon. Three years into his term, prices for some Americans are approaching $5 per gallon.
That is just the way Obama likes it. Given another four years, gasoline prices could reach $8 a gallon. This is because Obama has a greater allegiance to the Green Machine that drove home his victory in 2008 and that is fueling his chances for another victory lap come November.
The specifics of what the President promised to the environmentalists if he is re-elected remain a secret. But what we know for certain is that Obama clamped down on deep-water drilling inside the Gulf, tightened Federal restrictions for onshore oil exploration and vetoed the Keystone Pipeline, a major oil artery that would secure dependable Canadian crude to a nation thirsting for oil.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) said the evidence is in, that the Obama Administration has willfully brought higher prices to the gas pump because it has put an embargo on fresh and dependable sources of North American petroleum.
“We can’t slow down global demand for oil and gas, but we can do a lot more here at home to assure that we have the energy we need and to halt skyrocketing costs,” Hutchison said. “President Obama’s policy has resulted in an unprecedented slowdown in new exploration and production of oil and gas.”
Speaker of the House John Boehner said the President has been reckless in mismanaging the nation’s energy policies.
When added up, not passing the Keystone Pipeline and “scrapping leases for oil-shale development” makes the President responsible for $5 gasoline, read a press release from Boehner.
“The Obama administration has spent more than three years blocking efforts to expand energy production and bring down gas prices, while pushing job-crushing tax hikes and taxpayer-backed loans to companies like Solyndra.”
Boehner laid out a timeline showing Obama’s purposeful drive to sending gasoline prices higher:
- Jan. 7, 2010 – The Obama administration announces new bureaucratic hurdles to American energy production that Secretary Salazar admitted “could add delays to the leasing and drilling process.” Gas is $2.67 a gallon.
- March 31, 2010 – Instead of opening new areas to energy exploration and development, President Obama blocks deep-ocean energy production on 60 percent of America’s Outer Continental Shelf. Gas is $2.80 a gallon.
- Dec. 1, 2010 – The president re-imposes and expands the moratorium on offshore energy production. Gas is $2.86 a gallon.
- Jan. 2, 2011 – TIME reported that the Obama administration issued the first in a series of regulations on January 2 designed to unilaterally impose a national energy tax. Gas is $3.05 a gallon.
- May 5, 2011 – The White House issues a formal statement opposing House-passed Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act and Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act, legislation designed to jumpstart [sic] American energy production, address rising gas prices, and help create new jobs. Gas is $3.96 a gallon.
- June 21, 2011 – The White House opposes the House-passed Jobs & Energy Permitting Act that would unlock an estimated 27 billion barrels of oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Gas is $3.65 a gallon.
- Nov. 8, 2011 – The Obama Administration releases a plan for a five-year moratorium on offshore energy production, placing “some of the most promising energy resources in the world off-limits,” according to the House Natural Resources Committee. Gas is $3.42 a gallon.
- Jan. 18, 2012 – President Obama rejects the bipartisan Keystone XL pipeline and the more than 20,000 jobs that would come with it. Gas is $3.39 a gallon, and rising faster and earlier than ever before.
Rising in tandem with gasoline prices has been crude oil. As you can see from the chart below, crude oil has risen almost 40 percent in the past two years and last week had an upward gap at $105 per barrel. This is a bullish signal and technically indicates the price of oil is going to go higher. More importantly, I think Obama will continue to provide the fundamentals for crude and gasoline to increase, perhaps another 40 percent higher if he is re-elected this November.
While debating other GOP candidates last month, Newt Gingrich criticized Obama’s national energy program, saying it has been instrumental in driving the price of gasoline to $5 per gallon in some parts of the country.
“[America needs a new] energy policy, getting back to $2.50 a gallon gasoline, outlining both the economic and National Security implications, indicating that instead of bowing to a Saudi King we ought to be drilling, and our goal should be to be so independent that we don’t care what the Iranians are doing in the Straits of Hormuz,” Gingrich said.
That really is a pipe dream for Gingrich and it can only happen if a Republican is in the Oval Office next year. Short of that, Obama’s pump dream of $8 per gallon gasoline is what we will have. That might good for Green backers and tree huggers, but it will cripple the recovery for the rest of the Nation that depends on affordable gasoline.
Yours in good times and bad,
–John Myers
Editor, Myers’ Energy & Gold Report
Editor’s Note: Last week, TransCanada announced it would move ahead with part of the Keystone XL pipeline, completing a section Oklahoma to Texas. This plan does not require Federal approval. In January, the Obama Administration rejected TransCanada’s proposal to build a pipeline from the Montana-Canada border through Nebraska because of pressure from environmentalist groups.
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