George Allen: "Obama is pumping pain ... poor policies lead to predictably high fuel prices"

By George Allen
Washington Times

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Each morning over the past several weeks, Americans have watched gasoline and diesel prices skyrocket, igniting worries about the potential for a record-setting spring and summer of high fuel and food costs. Prices have not spiked this quickly since Hurricane Katrina in 2005; in fact, we are experiencing the second highest weekly spike in prices since 1990, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Several factors are behind the turbulence in the oil markets. The global market has responded to the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa with speculative higher prices. Growing demand from China and India for oil, gas and coal has changed the dynamics of world energy needs.

But the roots of our energy woes are largely of our own making. The price of crude oil as a global commodity is pegged to the U.S. dollar, and America’s huge budget deficit and massive trade deficit have devalued our currency.

Worse, the regulatory assault on American fossil fuels by the Obama administration and the past Congress has had a significant effect on today’s fuel prices. These counterproductive energy policies have decreased domestic production and left us more vulnerable than ever to the whims and designs of hostile dictators, oligarchs and cartels.

Consider this economic signal from the Gulf of Mexico. In 2008, the Department of the Interior received more than $68 million in revenues from royalties and lease sales under the Gulf of Mexico Energy and Security Act. In 2010, revenues plummeted to $2.3 million. Our economy lost billions in economic activity and thousands of jobs because of the terrible Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the subsequent self-inflicted moratorium by the Obama administration that closed down drilling.

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