Pain at the Pump: Policies that Suppress Domestic Production of Oil and Gas

Chairman Darrell Issa Hearing Preview Statement

“Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. …Coal-powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money.”

Those were the words of Candidate Obama. As President, he said:

“The nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy…America must be that nation.”

He is not alone. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, prior to his tenure in the cabinet, said:

“Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” To put that in perspective, this week, the price of fuel in Europe was $8 per gallon—nearly twice the price of fuel in the United States.

Viewed in tandem with Obama Administration efforts to slow production from the Gulf of Mexico, block “fracking” a technology that would increase domestic oil production by 40 percent in only five years, and stifle production on public lands, those views, can be seen as nothing less than a concerted campaign to raise the price of energy as a means to force the issue of “green” alternatives.

Addressing these issues is at the heart of a new report and Tuesday hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The United States has the largest reserves in the world—resources that can provide good paying American jobs and fuel our economic expansion. Standing between that energy and U.S. consumers is an obstacle course of government red tape, regulation, delays and obfuscations.

We need to expose the many ways the government is limiting access to our vast natural resources. Then, Congress can enact policies that support American workers and industries, rather than give them more reasons to look overseas for economic opportunities and more favorable regulatory climates.