Democrats Can Only Blame Themselves For High Gas Prices

May 3, 2011

By Refusing to Expand Domestic Energy Development, Democrats Hold Responsibility for Consumers' Price Pinch and Lost Production Gas prices have been rising for two months and hitting new record highs while economic experts fear that the price pinch could weaken the already frail economy: NATIONAL AVERAGE PRICE AT $3.95/GALLON, UP FROM $2.88/GALLON A YEAR AGO. ("AAA'sDaily Fuel Gauge Report," AAA, Accessed 5/2/2011) CBS NEWS: "RISING GAS PRICES MAY SLOW ECONOMIC RECOVERY." ("Rising Gas Prices May Slow Economic Recovery," CBS Evening News, 4/11/2011) FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE: PROLONGED HIGH GAS PRICES COULD THREATEN ECONOMY: "Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Tuesday that a prolonged rise in oil prices would pose a danger to the U.S. economy." (Jeannine Aversa, "Bernanke: High Oil Prices Could Harm Economy," Associated Press, 3/2/2011)  The last time gas prices were this high Democrats engaged in their ritual habit of blaming then-President George W. Bush and Republicans for high gas prices: FLASHBACK TO 2006: "DEMOCRATS BLAME BUSH FOR HIGH GAS PRICES." "Consumer gasoline prices continue to soar as the Bush administration places too much emphasis on drilling reserves and not enough on alternative fuels, Democrats said Saturday." ("Democrats Blame Bush for High Gas Prices," USA Today, 4/22/2006) PELOSI IN 2008: HIGH GAS PRICES DUE TO "TWO OIL MEN IN THE WHITE HOUSE." "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday blamed the ‘two oil men in the White House,' President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and their Republican allies in Congress for gas prices exceeding $4 a gallon." (" ‘Two Oil Men' To Blame for High Gas Prices, Pelosi Says," CNN Politics, 7/17/2008) OBAMA IN 2008: IT'S ALL DICK CHENEY'S FAULT. "To listen to Barack Obama today, it's all Dick Cheney's fault. ... Obama continued: ‘Cheney met with renewable energy once and oil companies 40 times. He has offered a gas tax holiday that at best would give you 30 cents a day for three months but assuming that the gas company would pass that on to you.'" (James Gerstenzang, "Barack Obama Links McCain to Bush-Cheney Oil Policies," Los Angeles Times, 8/5/2008) Now that they're in charge of Washington, Democrats have no one left to blame but themselves. The Democrats' record on domestic energy development is one of actively stalling new drilling permits, lost production and dependence on foreign oil: NUMBER OF PERMITS ISSUED BY OBAMA ADMINISTRATION THIS YEAR "PALE[S] IN COMPARISON" TO PREVIOUS YEARS: "But the 10 new wells that have received permits from the newly created U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management so far this year pale in comparison to the rate of permitting in prior years, according to a Reuters analysis of permits. The pace of government-issued permits so far in 2011 is about a third the rate for the same period in each of the previous five years, 40 versus an average of 119 in 2006 through 2010." (Kristen Hays and Bruce Nichols, "Analysis: After BP spill, U.S. drill permits slow to a trickle," Reuters, 4/18/2011) DRILLING RIGS ARE MOVING TO OTHER COUNTRIES BECAUSE OF OBAMA'S POLICIES: "This month, one year since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, the Noble Clyde Boudreaux—an ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig—will start operations off the coast of Brazil. Until a few weeks ago it was stationed in the Gulf.  … "Despite the president's repeated claims that he's been ‘encouraging' domestic oil production,administration policies have been driving drilling rigs out of the Gulf (six deepwater rigs in addition to the Noble have left the Gulf, with two more possibly on the way out). The overall result has been lower domestic oil production, slower economic growth, job losses and higher energy prices." (Joseph Mason, "Time for a Cease-Fire in the War on Oil," The Wall Street Journal, 4/25/2011) 360,000 BARRELS/DAY OF PRODUCTION LOST: "Because of the moratorium and de facto moratorium, the United States has lost an estimated 360,000 barrels per day of oil production from the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and 2011. The Obama administration also keeps postponing the approval of an oil pipeline from Canada. The administration cannot seem to figure out the environmental implications of a pipeline despite the fact that there are more than 50,000 miles of oil pipelines already in the United States.  And instead of drilling here, the Obama Administration is promoting offshore oil production in Brazil and placing the United States into an air combat situation with Libya, a member of the Organization of Oil Producing States (OPEC).  It seems that Mr. Obama's administration will go to lengths to obtain oil supplies from everywhere but the United States and Canada." ("The Obama Administration Is Slowly Reissuing Offshore Oil Permits," Institute for Energy Research, 3/23/2011) EVEN BILL CLINTON CALLED OBAMA'S DRILLING DELAYS "RIDICULOUS": "Former President Bill Clinton said Friday that delays in offshore oil and gas drilling permits are 'ridiculous' at a time when the economy is still rebuilding, according to attendees at the IHS CERAWeek conference." (Darren Goode, "Bill Clinton: Drilling Delays 'Ridiculous,'Politico, 3/11/2011)