In 1995, Bill Clinton had the opportunity to sign a bill that would’ve allowed drilling on ANWR’s Coastal Plain. He vetoed the bill, creating the mantra of not ruining the “pristine wilderness’ found in ANWR. Among other things, Bill Clinton took other oil-laden federal lands offlimits via executive order. The simple truth is that this is a well-planned ‘crisis’ of choice. We all remember Obama’s saying that $4 a gallon gas wasn’t too expensive; it’s just that it reached that price faster than he would’ve liked.

This ‘crisis’ was completely avoidable. Democrats chose this crisis because they supported policies that put huge known oil reserves offlimits.

During the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry promised that he’d filibuster any bill that permitted drilling in ANWR. That’s been the Democrats’ position for at least a decade.

Which leads us to today’s high gas prices. Clinton could claim, feebly in my opinion, that ‘ruining’ ANSWR’s pristine wilderness wasn’t worth it when oil was being traded at $10 a barrel. Since oil isn’t being sold at $10 a barrel anymore, doesn’t it seem wise to change policy? I posted a quote from John Maynard Keynes in this post:

When asked why he changed his position on an issue, John Maynard Keynes said: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

The Democrats have given us their answer. Unfortunately, they aren’t as smart as Mr. Keynes. The facts changed, Democrats didn’t.

BTW, that pristine wilderness that Bill Clinton and Democrats after him don’t want destroyed isn’t as pristine as they’d have us believe. Certainly, we’ve seen pictures like this:

Or perhaps you saw this picture instead:

To be fair, those are pictures of ANWR. The truth is that they aren’t pictures of where the drilling would actually happen. Here’s a more accurate picture of the drilling site:

That isn’t quite as pristine as Democrats want you to believe, is it? Well, that’s their story and they’re sticking with it:

Democratic leaders were not subtle about their plans to use the vote against Republicans in November. “Of everything they have done so far in terms of obstruction, this is the politically most damaging,” said New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who heads the Democrats’ Senate campaign committee.

Sen. Schumer’s shills might not get hurt this year but his House colleagues will be hurt by the Senate Democrats’ obstructionist ways. Polling shows overwhelming support for opening up the OCS and ANWR. People want a solution. ASAP. They’re convinced that a windfalls profits tax won’t make gas a penny cheaper at the pump, either.

Klobuchar is backing a bill that would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission additional authority to investigate the energy markets. Republicans, in a comprehensive energy plan presented Thursday, made a similar proposal.

“The experts tell us that a good amount of the money we now pay at the pump is going into the bank accounts of financial speculators,” Klobuchar said last week at a meeting with business leaders in Minneapolis.

During last week’s blogger conference call, Rep. John Peterson talked about the fastest way to put speculators in their place. Rep. Peterson noted that there was a gap of about 9 million barrels a day when oil was selling for dirt cheap. He then said that today’s margin was about a million barrels a day. Rep. Peterson is exactly right in saying that the fastest way to put speculators in their place is to increase production.

Democrats don’t want that. More accurately, the environmental extremists don’t want that. When the environmental extremists say jump, Democrats ask how high. Until they abandon the extremists, we’ll be stuck with high gas prices. It’s just that simple.

Here’s a thought worth pondering: Democrats say conserve, conserve. How does an OTR trucker conserve? How does a farmer working his crops conserve?

When you have the answer, let me know.

Technorati Tags: Gas Crisis, Chuck Schumer, Amy Klobuchar, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Environmentalists, ANWR, OCS, John Peterson, Oil Speculators, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. Ok, then lets play this game:

   1. Where will the oil that is currently somewhere in Alaska — because we don’t know exactly where — going to end up? (hint: US gas tanks is not the answer.)

   2. How long will it take to find, pump, and refine this crude? Oh wait, I thought the reason we had high gas prices was that there was limited refining capacity, or at least that’s what the criminal Bush said last year. Ok, assuming we build more refineries, how long?

   3. When you account for all of those exploration costs, and assuming that all of the oil will go to domestic consumption, what break will we see in the price of a gallon of gas?

   and, finally:

   4. What is the price on conservation land, even land that doesn’t have mountains or a pretty water view?

   Comment by Rocky — June 30, 2008 @ 4:11 pm

2. Rocky, thanks for playing. Now finish your cool aid, praise Allah and you to bed.

   Comment by SEW — June 30, 2008 @ 10:43 pm

3. I knew you’d want me to drink the cool aid!

   What, no answers to my questions?

   Comment by Rocky — June 30, 2008 @ 11:31 pm

4. Nope, no way, no can can do, too expensive,
   it’ll cost to much, uh-uh, not on our watch,
   dont know what were getting too, might hurt something.

   Thats change we can believe in, is it?

   Comment by T.A Gray — July 1, 2008 @ 7:28 am

5. I love the moonbat whine we can’t drill because drilling won’t impact for ten years or that drilling won’t make much of an impact.

   -First off if drilling won’t make an impact for ten years why should we care about the environment because whatever we do won’t make an impact for decades.

   -Second moonbat whine regarding impact on cost. Duh future markets on based on the availability of any commodity. By preventing production you increase speculation. Using the same Luddite logic, why bother about the environment because anything we do cannot impact on the environment anyway.

   When these watermelons start with their Gaia mantra remember they want you to live an Amish lifestyle at best because deep down they see people as a problem and have stated most people should die. You can bet this number doesn’t include them.

   Chief moonbat Al Gore has a home that consumes as much electricity as the 230 odd average US residences. Do you think he travels by Yugo?

   Comment by Thomas Jackson — July 2, 2008 @ 12:16 am

6. I’m game. Herre’s your answers:

   1. Where will the oil that is currently somewhere in Alaska — because we don’t know exactly where — going to end up? (hint: US gas tanks is not the answer.)

   A: We know exactly where that oil is. They’ve pinpointed it to a 2,000 acre tract of land.

   That oil will wind up in the United States if that’s part of the legislation. PERIOD.

   2. How long will it take to find, pump, and refine this crude? Oh wait, I thought the reason we had high gas prices was that there was limited refining capacity, or at least that’s what the criminal Bush said last year. Ok, assuming we build more refineries, how long?

   A: Actually, the stuff off California’s coast could be producing by this time next year.

   As for the refining part, that would have to be part of the legislation. Once that’s done, a refinery could be built fairly quickly.

   Finally, there’s technology for shale oil which harvests it almost in refined form.

   Return question: What’s your proof that President Bush is a criminal? Allegations aren’t proof. Loud-mouthed idiots like yourself don’t get away with drive-by slanders here.

   3. When you account for all of those exploration costs, and assuming that all of the oil will go to domestic consumption, what break will we see in the price of a gallon of gas?

   I don’t have a dollar figure but it would be significant. Studies think that it’d drop gas by at least $1/gallon.

   Just opening the OCS would increase domestic oil production by 2 million bbl/day. That wipes out the speculators, which experts think accounts for a minimum of $30/bbl.

   and, finally:

   4. What is the price on conservation land, even land that doesn’t have mountains or a pretty water view?

   Not much when gas is $4/gallon & OTR’s are parking their trucks because diesel is $5/gallon.

   The environment is a lovely thing to talk about when gas is cheap but that argument won’t work when there’s an artificial gas crisis.

   Comment by Gary Gross — July 3, 2008 @ 4:51 am