RAHN: Oil and oily politicians

What is one to infer when the speaker of the house has a stake in an alternate energy scheme predicated on high oil prices? What do you infer when that same person puts the congress on a five week VACATION and refuses a floor vote on domestic oil production? How do YOU define "self-serving hypocrite"?

The most critical national security issue facing the United States is energy independence and the Democrats in Congress and Obama have an energy plan that is an environmental plan and does not produce any additional energy supplies. The infrastructure is not in place for alternative sources and the technology is not there to even meet current demands much less increased demands. They have however passed legislation that has increased minimum wage over the price of a tank of gas, just barely.

Correction, the price of a gallon of gas.

So WHY don't the DEMOCRATS want to get OUR OWN Energy out of the ground? Can anyone answer that? Anyone. They know that the price of Energy effects the price of EVERYTHING ELSE. Yet they do NOTHING. They PREVENT us from retrieving, what is OURS. The AMERICAN PEOPLE own tht oil and gas. NOT the Congress. And certainly not ONE particular political party. So why do they stand in the way? EVERYONE else, all around the world, use the naturel recources at their disposal. Except us. The Canadians are taking the oil sands out of the ground and SELLING IT to us. Is THEIR ENVIRONMENT in RUINS? Has their Eco System collapsed? Then what's the problem with Pelosi and Reid? There HAS to be a reason for them standing in the way. They like to point to Canada, for its' Health Care. Let them look to Canada for their Energy Extraction Record. There's definately something going on. The American People had better WAKE UP. The Democrats are PLAYING A GAME with OUR LIVES. EVERYTHING COSTS MORE, because of them. You disagree? Than answer my question. Why can't we get our own energy resources out of the ground? Everyone else is.

It taints the argument to say that Pelosi wants to help her company more than the American people. Her investment in alternative fuels is not the reason she opposes drilling -- both of these facts are consequences of her ideology (which one could disagree with). Real wisdom right now is to be doing everything - oil, alternative fuels, your grandma's kitchen sink, etc. It is unfortunate that such an "everything" plan is stifled by the fact that even Congress doesn't trust its ability to move. One articulation of a bad dream that Nancy Pelosi might have is that we institute the "everything" plan starting with domestic oil production. The price of oil drops in anticipation of more supplies, and the nation loses its resolve to build the infrastructure and market for alternative fuels. If the global warming alarmists are right, then this is obviously a problem because we will be without the needed infrastructure to lower GHG emissions. [This next point should be a fear of everyone's that we all need to watch out for] Also, if the nation loses its resolve and keeps its autos dependent on oil, then our economy will be at the mercy of Islamists who purposely attack oil infrastructure, withhold production, and threaten disruptions/boycotts. The best way to get domestic production through Congress is allay the fear that the nation will stop its push once prices go down. The best way to do that is to support an Open Fuel Standard - that new cars are mandated to be Flex Fuel. A push toward flex fuel plug-in hybrids like this would guarantee a market for alternative fuels to come to market. Then, there would be no threat of inaction on alternative fuels, and prudence would rule the day.

Tmas- It seems like the best way to get production through Congress is to hang on until Oct 1. The restrictions on OCS and shale drilling expire, and we're left with only the current regulations and taxes. At least we would not then be increasing taxes on the companies we expect to do the drilling, we would not be adding new lawers of environmental regulations to gum things up, and we would not be spending $80 billion + in new taxpayer giveaways to favored companies. Often the hardest thing for Congress to do is to do nothing.

The wicked witch of the west from sanctuary city (Pelosi) is totally irrespnsible and may even be corrupt. Her refusal to hold a vote on domestic drilling for more oil that would provide relief to all Americans is despicable. Could the fact that she stands to profit from higher gas prices be her motivation? Check Michelle Malkin's revelation of Pelosi's energy investments. Nancy is beyond contempt. I'm waiting for the mainstream media to report on this but I don't hold out much hope.

why would crooked nancy want to drill when she can make millions from her under the table deals with "wind" farms ie: T-Bones deal.

Rhan is quite correct in his assessment of what it takes to get resources to the market place. In the 70's I worked on fields in Ohio and Tenneesee and we could drill and complete a well in as little as a few weeks. If a well produced oil we dropped a pump-jack in place and brought in tanks and pumped the oil to the tanks. A purchasing company would come in and drain the tanks and take the oil to a refinery. We even used "alternative" energy to run the pump jacks on many wells that produced both oil and gas by swapping out the carb on the engine for a natural gas carb (many wells were no where near a power line which would allow us to use electric motors and besides even if electricity was available if you have gas you run your pumps for "free" using the gas from the well). For gas wells the result is a bit different as we had to lay the pipe lines, install the separators and the compressors too. Still we brought a gas field in Tenneesee to production in well under a year. All this talk of "ten years" comes from those that apparently have little knowledge of what they speak.

Skorrent - The Democrats do have something to teach. If we do overcome their opposition and succeed in domestic oil production, it is still important to see it as mitigation and not the long-term answer to all of our energy woes. Arguing the domestic production point in the context of a broader energy plan will not only help it get through Congress, but it will help to keep our heads on straight. Nanci Pelosi and her personal issues aside, it is important to learn a lesson from whoever is offering one - even if you disagree with their prescriptions.