A new report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform details a disturbing “pattern of evidence” indicating that not only are the Obama administration’s energy policies responsible for higher oil and gas prices, but that the administration’s energy policy, in fact, is higher gas prices.
The report’s findings are the result of an extensive committee review of public records, policy analysis, statements and e-mails from administration officials, and reveal “a pattern of actions [that] shows the Administration is, in fact, pursuing an agenda to raise the price Americans pay for energy,” according to a copy of the report obtained by National Review Online.
“What President Obama failed to accomplish through the so-called ‘cap and trade’ program, his administration is attempting to accomplish through regulatory roadblocks, energy tax increases, and other targeted efforts to prohibit development of domestic energy resources,” the report concludes.
Among the report’s key findings:
- Key administration officials, including President Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu have gone on record in support of higher energy prices as a means to promote “green”technology by making it more economically viable. The failed “cap and trade” legislation is a prime example of this approach. “The result of this government action is less production, higher costs for producers, and more expensive energy,” the reports states.
- The United States currently boasts the largest domestic energy resources on earth — “greater than Saudi Arabia, China and Canada combined.” New technology has allowed for greater access to these resources — with the potential to increase domestic production by up to 40 percent — but government regulations threaten to severely limit or restrict development.
- Despite the fact that the United States relies on carbon-based fuels for more than 80 percent of its energy needs, the Obama administration has been “aggressively suppressing” the utilization of these fuels.
- Current administration policies have limited the domestic production of oil by restricting access to resources located along the outer continental shelf. Many of these restrictions were put in place before the disastrous Gulf oil spill.
