Henry Lamb
Monday, October 2, 2006
When gasoline prices hit $3 per gallon, everyone screamed for the government to "do something." The only thing to do to really solve the problem is to increase the supply of domestic petroleum, while continuing to develop affordable alternative energy sources. Both the administration, and the House of Representatives set out to do this by enacting legislation to expand offshore petroleum production, and to open a tiny portion of the alaska National Wildlife Refuge.
Even before gasoline prices began to fall, environmental organizations, and their Congressional benefactors, took steps to "monkeywrench" the legislation.
"Liberal Lamar" alexander, as the junior Senator from Tennessee is known, introduced a bill that would confiscate $450-million per year for five years from offshore oil revenue, for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This has become a slush-fund that the feds use to provide grants to states and to environmental organizations to buy up private property, that all too often, gets added to the bloated government land inventory. "Liberal Lamar" has blocked passage of the offshore drilling legislation until his provision is included.
Environmental organizations quickly increased the frequency of their TV ads that show aNWR to be lush, pristine wilderness, full of cuddly animals and beautiful flowers. The ads deliberately mislead, claiming that the aNWR reserves equal only about six months of petroleum usage. They fail to say that this would be true only if there were no other source for energy. In reality, pumping all that the alaska pipeline could handle, the aNWR supply would last about 30 years.
Interestingly, "Liberal Lamar" joined his colleagues, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, in opposing the development of alternative energy sources, windmills, off the coast of Cape Cod. This could be, according to Washington Watcher, Mike Hardiman, because Lamar also has a summer vacation home in the area.
almost as if coordinated, when efforts to expand domestic energy production began to gain momentum, the media was awash with reports of "new studies" that forecast doom-and-gloom consequences of global warming. Headlines screamed: " Hottest in a million years." NaSa's Jim Hansen headed this most recent study. He is the same Jim Hansen who first announced global warming at a Senate hearing conducted by then-Senator al Gore. He is the same Jim Hansen whose studies have been funded by the Heinz Foundation, headed by John Kerry's wife, and the same Jim Hansen who endorsed John Kerry for president.
Senator James Inhofe went to the Senate floor and delivered a scathing rebuttal, documenting not only the science that contradicts Hansen's study, but also pointing to the cyclic nature of the media's reporting about global warming and global cooling over the years.
Inhofe provides direct quotes from major media that warned of an imminent "Ice age," in the 1970s. These same media are now proclaiming that the earth is hotter than it's been in 12,000 years, and that by 2050, it will be hotter than it has ever been - one degree hotter than it is today.
Only a few months ago, climate experts were predicting that this year would produce even worse, and more hurricanes than last year - because of global warming. Obviously, they were wrong. These same climate experts are not embarrassed, they just offer forecasts that cannot be proven wrong for 50 years - as their 1970s forecasts about global cooling have proven wrong.
The climate debate is job security for bureaucrats and compliant scientists, a fund-raising source for environmental organizations, and very expensive entertainment for the observers. The reality of here and now requires policies that affect the here and now - not the pipe dreams of people who can't know what the future may hold.
The reality is that the United States government is denying its citizens the use of their own vital resources, namely, petroleum that lies offshore, and in reserves in aNWR and throughout the country. Consequently, the nation is dependent upon the likes of Iran's Mahmoud ahmadinejad, and Venezeula's Hugo Chavez, to supply its critical energy needs. Billions of U.S. dollars flow to these countries for oil, instead of flowing to americans. How stupid is this policy?
americans should demand that Congress override "Liberal Lamar," and the rest of the Kennedy- Kerry crowd that has blocked expanded oil production for years. Petroleum fuels the nation's economy; there is plenty of it available in U.S.-controlled territory. It is absolutely ridiculous not to use it, thereby remaining dependent upon our enemies for this vital commodity.
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