“This administration has a very rigid ideology when it comes to these sources of energy. They don’t like them, and they don’t want them to be produced here. And this is a perfect example of how they’re going about it.” – IER President Thomas Pyle
WASHINGTON D.C. — IER President Thomas Pyle joined Fox Business anchor Stuart Varney today to discuss the ongoing controversy regarding EPA Regional Administrator Al Armendariz’s disclosure of the agency’s policy of “crucifying” oil companies as an enforcement strategy.
Administrator Armendariz was appointed by President Barack Obama to lead the EPA’s South Central Region — an area that includes some of the most energy rich portions of the country in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Colorado. According to the EPA website, Administrator Armendariz “worked tirelessly” in the aftermath of the 2010 Gulf Oil spill, and his appointment put him at the front line of the Obama administration’s response to the spill, which included a moratorium on offshore drilling that resulted in a production loss of 104 million barrels of oil last year alone.
Yesterday, IER Communication Director Benjamin Cole released the following statement regarding Administrator Armendariz’s comments:
“If this were an isolated incident, we’d all breathe a sigh of relief. But this isn’t a single administrator, or a few secret service agents, or an $800k Las Vegas conference. The Obama administration is presently engaged in a four-year war on fossil energy. Lisa Jackson is taking no prisoners, and Administrator Armendariz’s comments are representative of the tactics the Obama administration has used — and will continue to use — until every coal plant is bankrupted, every oil producer is crucified, and electricity rates skyrocket.”
The Institute for Energy Research (IER) is a not-for-profit organization that conducts intensive research and analysis on the functions, operations, and government regulation of global energy markets. IER maintains that freely-functioning energy markets provide the most efficient and effective solutions to today’s global energy and environmental challenges and, as such, are critical to the well-being of individuals and society.
