OPINION:
To understand President Obama’s approach to energy policy, just look at what he says and does. Or don’t. Examining the president’s actions and rhetoric when it comes to energy policy won’t leave you connecting dots. Instead, it will show a policy approach that’s more “all over the map” than it is “all of the above.”
What we do know is that it seems the president trots out climate regulations whenever he needs to energize the base. What else explains his threat of taking executive action on climate change earlier this year in an otherwise tumultuous time for the administration?
While the promise elicited excitement from environmentalists, it’s worth wondering if the president has delivered anything meaningful at all — especially considering his “evolution” on the issue in between campaigns. In 2008, he promised supporters a price on carbon emissions. By 2012, he was replacing that with a smaller pledge to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
Yet when he’s not espousing climate change rhetoric, Mr. Obama is busy assuring the booming energy industry that he’s not waging a war on fossil fuels. The facts beg to differ.
In January, Mr. Obama’s EPA issued new power plant rules that would limit carbon-dioxide emissions to 1,000 pounds per megawatt-hour. The rule, which is based on power plants adopting costly carbon-capture technology, effectively moves toward eliminating coal from America’s energy mix. This came despite the fact that the United States is a world leader in reducing carbon emissions and other pollutants. The nation, in fact, is one of the few countries to do so in recent years.
Who does the president think will absorb the costs for complying with those excessive regulations? Greedy corporate CEOs? The American people will. However, the president’s double-talk on an “all of the above” energy strategy doesn’t stop there.
Remember that tense exchange between Mr. Obama and Mitt Romney during a 2012 presidential debate? The president repeatedly denied that drilling on federal land had decreased under his watch. Yet according to Factcheck.org, the number of drilling permits and leases issued during his term has decreased by more than half.
Remember that oil-transporting, job-creating, economy-boosting project known as the Keystone XL pipeline? For five years, the administration has kept construction in limbo even as its own State Department says it will have no net effects on the environment. Mr. Obama’s dithering is no more about concern for the environment than it is cautious pondering. It’s a transparent pander to environmental liberals who literally, chained themselves to a fence.
Remember the president’s State of the Union address this year, in which he said “America is closer to energy independence” because of natural gas? That’s great, but a newly released report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service shows natural gas production on federal lands fell 28 percent between 2009 and 2013. Production on state and private lands, however, increased 33 percent.
The lip service on natural gas does no one any favors. The president would be better off saving himself the trouble and saving us the hassle of having to nod along to empty words. If recent headlines are any indication, the other side has been getting fed up too.
In January, 18 environmental groups sent a letter to Mr. Obama, arguing that his administration needs to apply stricter climate tests to any energy decisions. The gist was clear: Ramp up pressure on fossil fuels or risk our wrath.
It puts the president in a conundrum. The thin line he’s been straddling for six years on energy has suddenly become an ever-widening gap. Here’s a thought. Maybe he should throw his full support behind the industry that creates jobs, grows the economy, pays millions in taxes to federal government, provides abundant energy, and puts America on the path to energy security.
A recent Gallup poll showed that a majority of Americans worry the most about the economy. Only 24 percent said climate change was their top concern. If that’s the case, most Americans would be concerned to know that in 2013, the United States purchased $147 billion in crude oil from OPEC countries.
America needs decisive leadership to become a global energy leader while protecting the environment. Mr. Obama needs to step up and provide leadership on opportunities most American support, like the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling on federal lands. Only then will Americans have better jobs as well as abundant and affordable energy.
The president may be able to save face with the environmental left by blaming a deadlocked Congress for now, but eventually he’ll be forced to show his hand. Let’s hope he chooses jobs and the economy, and not regulatory overreach and higher energy costs.
Glenn McCullough Jr., a former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority and mayor of Tupelo, Miss., is a small-business owner.
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