Say Anything

Senator Inhofe says that Obama’s policy goal is higher energy prices, because higher energy prices will make the “green energy” liberals have a fetish for competitive in the market.

(CNSNews.com) – A prominent GOP senator on energy issues accused President Barack Obama Thursday morning of having set an “explicit policy goal” of making energy prices more costly for Americans.

“My message today is simply this: higher gas prices – indeed, higher prices for the energy we use – are an explicit policy goal of the Obama administration,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “Let me put it another way: the Obama administration is attacking affordable energy.”

Inhofe’s comments come as crude oil futures traded up on anxiety over unrest in the Middle East and broke the triple-digit mark in recent weeks. As of Thursday, light crude was trading at over $101 per barrel.

“We have, in fact, 163 billion barrels of recoverable oil – nearly six times higher than what President Obama and the Democrats like to claim,” Inhofe continued. “Let’s think about 163 billion barrels for a moment: that is enough to maintain our current levels of production and replace our imports from the Persian Gulf for more than 50 years.”

What Senator Inhofe is referring to is a new Congressional Research Service report which concludes that we have far more recoverable oil and gas in the United States than previously thought:

U.S. proved reserves of oil total 19.1 billion barrels, reserves of natural gas total 244.7 trillion cubic feet, and natural gas liquids reserves of 9.3 billion barrels. Undiscovered technically recoverable oil in the United States is 145.5 billion barrels, and undiscovered technically recoverable natural gas is 1,162.7 trillion cubic feet. The demonstrated reserve base for coal is 488 billion short tons, of which 261 billion short tons are considered technically recoverable. …

Proved reserves are those amounts of oil, natural gas, or coal that have been discovered and defined, typically by drilling wells or other exploratory measures, and which can be economically recovered. In the United States, proved reserves are typically measured by private companies, who report their findings to the Securities and Exchange Commission because they are considered capital assets. In addition to the volumes of proved reserves are deposits of oil and gas that have not yet been discovered, which are called undiscovered resources. The term has a specific meaning: undiscovered resources are amounts of oil and gas estimated to exist in unexplored areas. If they are considered to be recoverable using existing production technologies, they are referred to as undiscovered technically recoverable resources (UTRR). In-place resources are intended to represent all of the oil, natural gas, or coal contained in a formation or basin without regard to technical or economic recoverability.

Liberals would have us believe that “drill, baby, drill” can’t solve our energy issues. Except, it’s becoming more and more clear that it can.

But liberals don’t want us to use traditional resources like coal, oil and gas. They want us to use “green power,” and if inflating energy prices to the point where “green power” becomes marketable is what it takes to get there that’s what they’ll do.

Consequences in terms of lost prosperity and economic activity be damned.