Oil Executives to Democrats: Let’s Open the Spigots
Wednesday, Democrats tried grilling oil executives on the high price of oil. Instead, oil executives turned the heat up on Democrats, with a bit of help from Republican senators like Jeff Sessions and Orrin Hatch. Here’s a noteable quote from John Lowe, executive vice president of ConocoPhillips:
John Lowe, executive vice president of ConocoPhillips, said Congress should enact a balanced energy policy. In addition to lifting the drilling ban, such a policy could include measures to encourage alternative energy sources, remove the ethanol tariff, promote energy conservation, cut regulations around refining.
“We must work together to find a real solution,” said Lowe. “U.S. oil companies should be viewed not as scapegoats, but as assets.”
Peter Robinson, vice chairman of Chevron, had this to say:
“Americans need companies that can effectively compete for access to new resources. Punitive measures that weakened us in the face of international competition are the wrong measures.”
The most devastating testimony, in my opinion, was given by John Hofmeister. Here’s part of what he said:
“If the nation set a goal of increasing domestic production by 2 (million) to 3 million barrels a day by opening up new sources of exploration and production, we could demonstrate to the world that we are in control of our own destiny,” Shell Oil Co. President John Hofmeister told a Senate panel today.
Granting greater accesss, Hofmeister argued, coupled with Congress’ previous actions to increase use of renewable fuels and to raise fuel mileage requirements, could help avoid awkward scenarios in which U.S. leaders ask producing nations to produce more and get “an unresponsive reply.”
While all oil-importing nations buy oil at global prices, some, notably India and China, subsidize the cost of oil products to their nation’s consumers, feeding the demand for more oil despite record prices. They do this to speed economic growth and to ensure a competitive advantage relative to other nations. Meanwhile, in the United States, access to our own oil and gas resources has been limited for the last 30 years, prohibiting companies such as Shell from exploring and developing resources for the benefit of the American people.
Senator Sessions, I agree, it is not a free market.
According to the Department of the Interior, 62 percent of all on-shore federal lands are off limits to oil and gas developments, with restrictions applying to 92 percent of all federal lands. We have an outer continental shelf moratorium on the Atlantic Ocean, an outer continental shelf moratorium on the Pacific Ocean, an outer continental shelf moratorium on the eastern Gulf of Mexico, congressional bans on on-shore oil and gas activities in specific areas of the Rockies and Alaska, and even a congressional ban on doing an analysis of the resource potential for oil and gas in the Atlantic, Pacific and eastern Gulf of Mexico.
The Argonne National Laboratory did a report in 2004 that identified 40 specific federal policy areas that halt, limit, delay or restrict natural gas projects. I urge you to review it. It is a long list. If I may, I offer it today if you would like to include it in the record.
When many of these policies were implemented, oil was selling in the single digits, not the triple digits we see now. The cumulative effect of these policies has been to discourage U.S. investment and send U.S. companies outside the United States to produce new supplies.
As a result, U.S. production has declined so much that nearly 60 percent of daily consumption comes from foreign sources.
The problem of access can be solved in this country by the same government that has prohibited it. Congress could have chosen to lift some or all of the current restrictions on exportation and production of oil and gas. Congress could provide national policy to reverse the persistent decline of domestically secure natural resource development.
Yet Democrats refuse to believe that limiting access to oil reserves has any effect on the prices consumers pay:
Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill, accused the corporate executives of ignoring the plight of people suffering because of high energy prices. “Where is your corporate conscience?” he asked them.
“The issue is simple,” said Leahy. “People we represent are hurting, the companies you represent are profiting.”
I guess I shouldn’t expect a bunch of socialists to understand principles like supply and demand. Your average high schooler probably understands those principles far better than these socialist idiots.
I’d further argue that Durbin’s and Leahy’s statements are designed to scapegoat the oil companies so that people won’t notice that the Senate Democrats are responsible for this disaster. If they wouldn’t have put so many of the oil reserves off-limits over the last 12+ years, we’d be flush for the next generation. If they didn’t filibuster the drilling in ANWR; if they hadn’t put the shale oil reserves of the Rockies off-limits; if they hadn’t banned the building of new refineries, if they hadn’t let oil companies replace wells when other wells dried up, we wouldn’t be facing the problems that we’re currently facing.
If you want the Democrats’ Energy Bill in summary, it’s this simple: they want to limit supply while taxing the oil companies. When prices spike, then Democrats act like they aren’t responsible. If these dipshits don’t figure supply and demand pretty soon, Democrats will be responsible for the pain we feel at the pumps. If that happens, rest assured that voters will take their anger out on them at the polls.
It’s a fate they richly deserve.
Technorati Tags: Pat Leahy, Dick Durbin, Oil Executives, John Hofmeister, Supply And Demand, Free Markets, Scapegoats, Regulations, ANWR, Offshore Drilling, Shale Oil, energy Bill
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:36 am
Ol dicky durbin the turban is an idiot, isn’t he?
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:43 am
Fantastic post!
The micro-managing and regulating of the market by socialist-minded “central planners” has thrown a wrench in the free market system and created this problem and many other problems.
Health care costs are too high? Democrats made it super-easy to sue doctors, sending malpractice insurance through the roof, the cost of which has been passed on to patients. Pharmaceutical companies have been regulated to death, sending pill costs sky high.
More examples can be found in a PROFOUND book I just read: “How Capitalism Saved America” by Thomas J. DiLorenzo.
I just wish that Democrats/Liberals would take the blinders off for just a moment and take a deeper look at what policies benefit the American people long-term vs. what their over-taxation and over-regulation have done.
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:14 am
They wont. They are right and the world is wrong.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
There is not nearly as much scapegoating of celebrities who make millions per film.
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:23 am
Democrats energy policy:
Increase dependency on foriegn oil by
Not allowing:
new refineries,
further drilling on ANWAR
Gulf of Mexico, or offshore California
removing tax incentives for research and exploration.
Create food shortages by encouraging farmers to grow more corn for ethanol.
Blame oil companies for high fuel prices.
Huff and puff at in front of cameras.
Run for reelection as looking out for the people.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:07 am
OK maybe that was a tad harsh. Cross out Democrats and replace with Washington’s.
Hardly a dimes worth of difference. fact is they all think were too dumb to handle the truth that they’ve screwed it up.
WE need to drop our dependence on foriegn oil. That means more coal, more hydrogen, more wind, and more nukes. But they are too bedholden to the wack jobs in the oil industry and the envoronmental movement, and too spineless to act correctly.
The parties over, kiss $3.00/gal gas goodbye, bend over and grab your ankles.