THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIV, Issue # 13, January 21, 2012
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DESTROYING AMERICA BY DENYING ACCESS TO ENERGY
By Alan Caruba
THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY: AMERICA, HOME TO SOME OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST RESERVES OF COAL, NATURAL GAS & OIL, IS BEING DELIBERATELY
DESTROYED BY THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, AS IT DOES EVERYTHING IN ITS POWER RESTRICT ACCESS TO THESE NATURAL RESOURCES & DRIVE ENERGY
PRODUCERS OUT OF BUSINESS. OBAMA'S ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES ARE A GUARANTEE OF ECONOMIC DISASTER.
FULL STORY:
It is the crime of the century that America, home to some of the world’s greatest reserves of coal, natural gas and oil, is being deliberately destroyed by the
Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior, as they do everything in their power to restrict access and drive energy producers out of
business.
It is common sense that a nation that cannot produce sufficient electricity to turn on its lights and power its manufacturing sector will be destroyed, and this
will happen to the U.S.A., if current Obama administration regulations and actions continue. Our vital transportation sector and all other economic activities
that utilize petroleum-based products will suffer, too.
While President Obama babbles about millionaires and billionaires, everyone will be impoverished by the loss of jobs and revenue our energy sector produces
now and can produce in the future.
This isn’t an “energy policy.” It’s a “no-energy policy,” and it is a guarantee of economic disaster.
Obama’s decision to reject a permit for Canada’s XL Keystone pipeline is just one example. It is a job-killer and a revenue-killer. There are thousands of
pipelines serving America’s energy needs and the XL Keystone pipeline would ensure that Canada’s own vast energy reserves would flow to America. It is
one of our key trade partners, and Obama has slapped it in the face.
In early January, 2012, Ken Salazar, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, announced a new 20-year, million-acre ban on uranium mining for federal lands in Arizona,
despite the fact that these lands hold the highest-grade of known uranium deposits in the United States. It is an outrage that a new GOP Congress will have to
overturn, if the nation is to be assured of sufficient uranium to power its nuclear plants and for weapons development. If the ban remains, these uranium
resources would be inaccessible until 2023!
Tom Pyle, President of the Institute for Energy Research said that Salazar’s announcement “further compounds a man-made energy crisis that has been
planned and executed in Washington, D.C.”
At the same time we are learning of enormous natural gas discoveries that can reduce our energy bills and turn sleeping little towns into boomtowns,
environmentalist organizations have launched a vast propaganda campaign against hydraulic fracking -- a technology that has been safely used for more than
fifty years. Their claims about dangers to the nation’s supply of fresh water are baseless. Their claims that fracking has caused earthquakes in Ohio are absurd.
Need it be said that the Environmental Protection Agency has turned its eyes on hydraulic fracking and is working on a report due later this year that will likely
call for harsh crackdowns on its use and more regulations to throttle the expansion of natural gas extraction?
The EPA has just released a report of those power plants that top the list of its regulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. There is no basis in science to
justify the reduction of CO2. Indeed, since it is a gas on which all vegetation depends, much as oxygen is vital to all animal life, reducing it would impair great
crop yields and healthier forests.
These regulations are based on the global warming hoax that blamed CO2 for warming the earth. That is utterly false. The Earth is currently in a perfectly natural
cooling cycle and the climate of the Earth is almost entirely based on the Sun — solar radiation — along with the actions of oceans, clouds, and even volcanic
activity that spews tons of particulates into the atmosphere.
Coal-fired power plants account for fifty percent of all the electricity generated in the United States. Fifty percent! And, yet, the EPA is determined to shut down
dozens of them providing that vital factor in the lives of all Americans and the economy, nor does this take into account the billions that energy producers have
spent to upgrade their technology to reduce emissions.
The Obama administration fuel economy agenda, a call for 54.5 miles per gallon ignores simple physics. There is a finite amount of energy a gallon of gas can
generate. If you dilute it with ethanol, as is currently required, you get even less mileage. The administration is trying to circumvent Congress by issuing
standards based on regulating “greenhouse gas emissions,” but there is no need for this. It is a false argument. The Center for Automotive Research says that
the proposed new standards would cause the retail price of average motor vehicles to increase by more than $11,000.
Americans and the nation’s future are being victimized by Obama administration policies. The Eighteenth Annual Index of Economic Freedom, released on
January 12th by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, measures the many factors that contribute to the economic health of a nation —
things like property rights, regulatory efficiency, open markets, free trade, and labor policies.
Economic freedom is declining worldwide, as governments try to spend their way out of the global recession. The United States fell to tenth place. In 2009, it
ranked sixth; in 2010; it was eighth; and, in 2011, it was ninth.
We are witnessing the deliberate murder of a superpower.
© Alan Caruba, 2012
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at Warning Signs, his popular blog -- and thereafter on dozens of other
websites and blogs. His monthly report on new books is posted at Bookviews.
A business and science writer, Caruba is the Founder of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information
about "scare campaigns" designed to influence public opinion and policy.
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume XIV, 2011
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity