Earlier this morning, I posted something titled “Pelosi Plays the Fool.” Now I’m calling Ms. Pelosi on why shey’s changed her mind on drilling. Ms. Pelosi’s statements at her weekly press conference are now contradicted by Steny Hoyer’s quote in this Reuters article. Here’s what Ms. Pelosi said during her press conference:
“This call for drilling in areas that are protected is a hoax, it’s an absolute hoax on the part of the Republicans and this administration†Pelosi said at her weekly press conference. “It’s a decoy to punt your attention away from the fact that their policies have produced $4-a-gallon gasoline.â€
Here’s what Rep. Hoyer said today:
“Let’s be clear: Democrats support increasing the domestic production of petroleum and other energy resources.”
Rep. Hoyer is more full of it than a Christmas goose.
- If Democrats “support increasing the domestic production of petroleum and other energy resources”, why wasn’t it in the non-energy Energy Bill passed earlier?
- If Democrats “support increasing the domestic production of petroleum and other energy resources”, then why was the mantra “We can’t drill our way out of this crisis” created?
- If Democrats “support increasing the domestic production of petroleum and other energy resources”, then why did Speaker Pelosi call additional drilling a hoax?
Most importantly, it should be known that Democrats still haven’t said anything about ANWR or the OCS:
He outlined legislation, which could reach the House floor as early as next week, that he said would speed development of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, where drilling activity has been slow.
Democratic leaders also hammered away at the U.S. oil industry, saying it is doing little with the leases it already holds to drill on 68 million acres in the lower 48 states. Under the Democratic bill, such lease holders would have to “use it or lose it,” Hoyer said.
If the name National Petroleum Reserve doesn’t ring a bell, that’s perhaps because it’s often associated with the Brooks Range:

You’ll notice that the Brooks range is also in Alaska’s tundra region but that it’s 150-250 miles west of ANWR and possibly 50-100 miles south of the huge known reserves found in ANWR’s Coastal Plain.
- If Democrats truly are in favor of increasing oil exploration and production, why aren’t they opening ANWR, where there’s huge known reserves of oil and natural gas?
- If Democrats truly are in favor of increasing oil exploration and production, why aren’t they opening the OCS?
- If Democrats truly are in favor of increasing oil exploration and production, why aren’t they opening the spigot enough to make a difference?
Here’s a boneheaded, pandering comment from Majority Whip James Clyburn:
“People are hurting because the Bush-Cheney administration for eight years has stood with big oil and big energy instead of the American people,” said House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat.
Rep. Clyburn’s comment is insulting. The Bush administration “has stood with big oil” because there aren’t many wildcatters with the financial wherewithal to drill on the OCS, in ANWR or on the Brooks Range. This is just a pathetic attempt to sound like they’re on the side of ‘the little guy’.
NEWSFLASH: ‘The little guy’ won’t see relief if Big Oil isn’t permitted to do its job. ‘Big Oil’ has the capital to pour into a major project like this. Certainly, wildcatters can’t get the capital needed for a project in ANWR.
Not letting Big Oil do what it does best is how we got into this mess. Environmental do-gooders prevented ‘Big Oil’ from doing what they do best: supply oil to American consumers. We know this from this article:
“So the debate started way back in 1977, I think that was the first time I came to Congress and testified on that issue,” Herrera recalled.
At that time, Stan Senner was a young environmentalist from Fairbanks, Alaska. He flew to Washington to lobby for protection of the coastal plain, a wilderness teeming with wildlife in northeastern Alaska. “We knew right from the outset that it was going to be a big fight,” Senner recalled.
It’s obvious that Democrats have sided with the environmentalists for 30+ years. Based on the Democrats time-tested allegiance to the environmentalists, isn’t it accurate to say that Democrats have stood with the environmentalists instead of the American people”?
What have Democrats done on increasing oil production in the last 10 years? More precisely, have Democrats done anything to increase oil production in the last 10 years?
The bottom line to this abrupt reversal by the House Democratic leadership is proof that this issue is a ticking electoral time bomb that doesn’t benefit Democrats and that Democrats can only apply bandaids on this crisis because their environmentalist allies won’t permit them to truly open the spigot to energy independence.
Pelosi and Hoyer know that they’ll get clobbered if they’re seen as doing nothing. They also know that they can’t go farther than this gimmick because the environmentalists will be hopping mad if they do.
The Lady Logician is right in saying that we can get out of this mess. It’s just that we can’t with Pelosi and Hoyer bowing at the environmentalists’ altar.
Technorati: Gas Crisis, Oil Exploration, Oil Production, National Petroleum Reserve, ANWR, Brooks Range, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, James Clyburn, Environmentalists, Crisis of Choice, Big Oil, Election 2008
Cross-posted at California Conservative
