Power Lines: Democrat Rhetoric vs. America’s Reality

The president’s policies have failed, and are making the economy worse.  While the president has been on a multi-state energy tour touting his energy policies, gas prices have risen to $3.91 a gallon as of March 28, 2012—a 112.5 percent increase above the $1.84 a gallon when President Obama took office (January 2009).  This video, from Whip McCarthy and the House Energy Action Team, highlights the failure of President Obama’s energy policies. 

Rhetoric:  “Anybody who tells you that we can just drill our way out of this problem does not know what they’re talking about.”   President Obama, March 1, 2012, New Hampshire. 

Reality:  House Republicans know that increasing domestic production will help lessen our dependence on unstable foreign sources of oil.  However, rather than approve the Keystone XL pipeline project and encourage more domestic production, Democrats’ want to continue our dependence on volatile regions for oil by requesting that other nations increase their oil production for our use.  Recently, Senator Schumer (D-NY) asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to urge Saudi Arabia to boost output.  Perhaps President Obama believes that Saudi Arabia—not the U.S.—could drill our way out of this problem. 

Rhetoric:  “So we’re drilling all over the place right now. That’s not the problem.”  President Obama, March 22, 2012, Oklahoma. 

Reality:  According the director of the Bureau of Land Management, oil production on U.S. federal property is down 14 percent and offshore production from federal areas is down 17 percent from only a year ago.  In addition, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a report revealing that 96 percent of the increase in domestic oil production since 2007 has occurred on non-federal lands.  The report also showed that in 2011 production on federal public lands has declined by an average of 275,000 barrels per day.  If we were truly drilling “all over the place,” there would be an increase in production on federal lands. 

Rhetoric:  “We need an energy strategy for the future—an all-of-the-above strategy for the 21st century that develops every source of American-made energy.”  President Obama, March 21, 2012, Maryland. 

Reality:  The Obama administration recently released a draft offshore drilling five-year lease plan that will close the majority of the Outer Continental Shelf to new energy production through 2017.  There has not been any drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, or the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, accounting for an estimated 19 billion barrels of oil and 78 trillion cubic feet of natural gas going untouched.  On land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, there are 38 million acres under lease for oil and gas development—down from 47 million available in 2008.  This doesn’t appear to represent an “all-of-the-above” strategy from the President. 

Rhetoric:  “The fact of the matter is we use 20 percent of the world’s oil.  But even if we drilled every square inch of this country, we’d still only have 2 or 3 or 4 percent of the world’s known oil reserves.”   President Obama, March 21, 2012, New Mexico. 

Reality:  President Obama’s statement is based on U.S. “proven reserves.”  However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration stated that proved reserves are “not an appropriate measure for judging total resource availability in the long-term.”  EIA data shows that proven U.S. reserves now stand at about 22 billion barrels.  According to CRS, our technically-recoverable resources amount to 163 billion barrels (not including oil shale)—more than six times what the president claims we have. 

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