President uses weekly address to hammer home energy message

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama used his weekly address to reiterate the energy message he delivered at the University of Miami last Thursday (click here for a full transcript of his remarks)–” there are no quick fixes to this problem, and … we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices.”

“Some politicians always see this as a political opportunity. And since it’s an election year, they’re already dusting off their three-point plans for $2 gas. I’ll save you the suspense: Step one is drill, step two is drill, and step three is keep drilling. We hear the same thing every year,” the President said on Saturday. “Well the American people aren’t stupid. You know that’s not a plan–especially since we’re already drilling. It’s a bumper sticker. It’s not a strategy to solve our energy challenge. It’s a strategy to get politicians through an election.” (Watch the video below or click here. And click here for a full transcript of his weekly address.)

In a statement responding to the President’s speech in Florida, the American Petroleum Institute (API) challenged President Obama to back up his energy statements with policies that will enhance, not hinder an “all the above” energy strategy to benefit consumers.

“In an effort to ease the pain at the pump, the president is misleading Americans about his energy strategy,” said API president and CEO Jack Gerard. “President Obama says he’s committed to domestic oil and natural gas production, but the fact is his record shows otherwise. Since taking office he has declared 85% of our offshore areas off limits, decreased oil and gas leases in the Rockies by 70%, rejected the Keystone XL pipeline and has 10 federal agencies planning more regulation of hydraulic fracturing, which is key to oil and natural gas development.”

He said, “The president’s Jekyll-and-Hyde approach to energy security is hurting consumers. We urge the president to work with our industry to generate more supply to the market and create new American jobs. If the president didn’t think supply mattered in the price equation, why did he tap into the SPR last year’s Instead of raiding our emergency reserves again, we hope the president will put this industry to work so we can produce more oil and natural gas for American by Americans.”

API has published a brochure, “Energy Myths & Facts: “The President’s Backward Energy Policy Won’t Lower Gasoline Prices.”

Meanwhile, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers President Charles T. Drevna issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s energy speech: “The [AFPM supports] a balanced approach to meeting our nation’s energy needs. Eliminating tax deductions that every other American manufacturer receives and supporting tax hikes on energy that Americans use every day in order to subsidize other forms of energy that can’t compete on their own in a free market is not the right approach.

“President Obama is once again seeking discriminatory energy tax increases that will hurt American consumers and endanger manufacturing jobs of American workers. Instead of trying to slow our economy down with more taxes and higher unemployment, the president should approve the Keystone XL pipeline to immediately create 20,000 American jobs and provide the American people with a sure and steady supply of oil to serve them for generations.”

And Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) president and CEO Barry Russell issued the following statement: “President Obama reinforced his support for billions of dollars in new, job-crushing taxes on American oil and natural gas. His recent budget proposal also seeks to raise taxes on American energy by billions of dollars.”

He added, “Floridians expecting to hear bold, common sense solutions from the President … about how America can tackle our long-term energy problems must be disappointed. Not only are Miami consumers being hit with gas prices nearing $4 a gallon, up more than 60 cents compared to this time last year, but what the President delivered today was nothing but more broken promises and more failed ideas about how to solve America’s critical energy needs.

“Unfortunately, the President’s skewed idea of an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy plan ensures that unelected Washington bureaucrats can determine, through massive tax hikes and taxpayer handouts, which forms of American energy should win and which should lose. In this case, the President has chosen to penalize our American oil and natural gas industry with massive tax hikes that benefit no one – especially the consumer.

“His proposed billion-dollar tax hikes on the industry are a direct contrast to his statements that he wants to encourage domestic oil and natural gas production.”

SOURCE: CSP Daily News

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