Tag: Energy
Obama Plans To Use Executive Orders To Ensure America’s Dependence On Foreign Sources Of Oil
Say goodbye to “Drill Here Drill Now”. Get ready for long lines at the pump and gas at or over 8 dollars a gallon. The idiots that voted for “Change” have no idea what they have done. They haven’t the brain power to understand the danger of not having our own oil production.
Gird your loins and say goodbye to falling gas prices, the coal industry, offshore drilling, liquefied natural gas and say hello to Jimmy Carter’s second term.
Obama to use executive orders for immediate impact
President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas.
John Podesta, Obama’s transition chief, said Sunday Obama is reviewing President Bush’s executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule. He said the president can use such orders to move quickly on his own.
“There’s a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we’ll see the president do that,” Podesta said. “I think that he feels like he has a real mandate for change. We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set.”
Podesta also said Obama is working to build a diverse Cabinet. That includes reaching out to Republicans and independents — part of the broad coalition that supported Obama during the race against Republican John McCain. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been mentioned as a possible holdover.
“He’s not even a Republican,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said. “Why wouldn’t we want to keep him? He’s never been a registered Republican.”
Obama was elected on a promise of change, but the nature of the job makes it difficult for presidents to do much that has an immediate impact on the lives of average people. Congress plans to take up a second economic aid plan before year’s end — an effort Obama supports. But it could be months or longer before taxpayers see the effect.
Obama could use his executive powers to at least signal that Washington is changing.
“Obama’s advantage of course is he’ll have the House and the Senate working with him, and that makes it easier,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. “But even then, having an immediate impact is very difficult to do because the machinery of government doesn’t move that quickly.”
Presidents long have used executive orders to impose policy and set priorities. One of Bush’s first acts was to reinstate full abortion restrictions on U.S. overseas aid. The restrictions were first ordered by President Reagan and the first President Bush followed suit. President Clinton lifted them soon after he occupied the Oval Office and it wouldn’t be surprising if Obama did the same.
Executive orders “have the power of law and they can cover just about anything,” Tobias said in a telephone interview.
Bush used his executive power to limit federal spending on embryonic stem cell research, a position championed by opponents of abortion rights who argue that destroying embryos is akin to killing a fetus. Obama has supported the research in an effort to find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Many moderate Republicans also support the research, giving it the stamp of bipartisanship.
On drilling, the federal Bureau of Land Management is opening about 360,000 acres of public land in Utah to oil and gas drilling. Bush administration officials argue that the drilling will not harm sensitive areas; environmentalists oppose it.
“They want to have oil and gas drilling in some of the most sensitive, fragile lands in Utah,” Podesta said. “I think that’s a mistake.”
Two top House Republicans said there is a willingness to try to work with Obama to get things done. But they said to expect Republicans to serve as a check against the power held by Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress.
“It’s going to be a cheerful opposition,” said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. “We’re going to carry those timeless principles of limited government, a strong defense, traditional values, to the American people.”
Pence, of Indiana, is expected to take over the No. 3 leadership post among House Republicans.
In other transition matters, Obama’s new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, would not say whether Obama would return to the Senate for votes during the postelection session this month. Obama’s presence would be extraordinary, given his position as president-elect, especially if Congress takes up a much-anticipated economic stimulus plan.
“I think that the basic approach has been he’s going to be here in Chicago, setting up his economic, not only his economic team, but the policies he wants to outline for the country as soon as he gets sworn in, so we hit the ground running,” Emanuel said.
Also, Emanuel would not commit to a Democratic proposal to help the auto industry with some of the $700 billion approved by Congress to for the financial bailout.
Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a letter Saturday to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the administration should consider expanding the bailout to include car companies.
Podesta appeared on “Fox News Sunday,” as did Pence, and CNN’s “Late Edition,” where Reid also was interviewed. Emanuel spoke on ABC’s “This Week” and CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Obama Tells SF Chronicle He Will Bankrupt Coal Industry
I found this on NewsBusters. Spread it around to everyone you know especially in coal states like Virginia , Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Indiana.
Imagine if John McCain had whispered somewhere that he was willing to bankrupt a major industry? Would this declaration not immediately be front page news? Well, Barack Obama actually flat out told the San Francisco Chronicle (SF Gate) that he was willing to see the coal industry go bankrupt in a January 17, 2008 interview. The result? Nothing. This audio interview has been hidden from the public…until now. Here is the transcript of Obama’s statement about bankrupting the coal industry (emphasis mine):
Let me sort of describe my overall policy.
What I’ve said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else’s out there.
I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.
So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.
That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches.
The only thing I’ve said with respect to coal, I haven’t been some coal booster. What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as a (sic) ideological matter as opposed to saying if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it.
So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can.
It’s just that it will bankrupt them.
Amazing that this statement by Obama about bankrupting the coal industry has been kept under wraps until this time.
Democrats Pass Sham Energy Bill
Well the Democrats continue to screw the American people. As usual, under the cover of darkness, they passed their “Hoax” Energy Bill (H.R. 6899). The bill passed 236-189 despite the objections of Republicans who said it would do little to boost offshore oil and gas production.
These corrupt a$$holes want to open up the strategic reserve, stating that it will cause speculators to drive down prices, but refuse to allow drilling for the exact same reason. Obviously Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are banking on the idea that the American electorate is stupid. This can only lower their 9 percent approval rating and I think they are in for a big surprise in November. At least I hope so!
This may well die in the Senate. If that is not the case, President Bush, who recently lifted the executive order ban on drilling, may well veto it or refuse to sign it. Lets hope to God that is the case.
Here is the roll call vote.
Another Sham “No-Energy” Energy Bill
Highlights of the Democrat Energy Bill (H.R.6899):
· Implements vast restrictions on energy drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) compared to what would otherwise be allowed if the current moratorium on OCS energy development were allowed to expire on October 1, 2008.
· Provides states no incentive to allow for the expanded OCS drilling. That is, states would not get revenue shares in any of the newly leased areas.
· Repeals the moratorium on oil shale on federal lands, but prohibits any actual oil shale leasing unless a state allows it via state law. Allowing the current moratorium to simply expire in two weeks would allow for oil shale leasing on federal lands without state approvals.
· Releases 70 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and provides for a subsequent replenishment with a less desirable grade of oil.
· Authorizes $1.7 billion taxpayer dollars to subsidize public transportation ridership already at record levels.
· Includes a requirement, commonly known as the Renewable Portfolio Standard or the Renewable Electricity Standard, that electric suppliers, other than governmental entities and rural electric cooperatives, provide 2.75% of their electricity using renewable energy resources by the year 2010—and increasing incrementally to 15% by the year 2020.
· Directs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop loan products and flexible underwriting guidelines to facilitate a secondary market for energy-efficient and location-efficient mortgages on housing for low and moderate income families—and for second and junior mortgages made for the purposes of energy efficiency or renewable energy improvements.
· Mandates gas stations owned by larger oil and gas companies to install at least one alternative fuel pump (natural gas, E-85, biodiesel, or hydrogen) by 2018.
· Includes the Charlie Rangel transportation earmark for New York by terminating the remaining portions of the New York Liberty Zone tax incentives program (implemented to encourage business investment in lower Manhattan).
· Includes several tax increases—primarily the special carve-out of large (and foreign-government-owned) oil and gas producers from the domestic manufacturing tax deduction, the freeze of this tax deduction for all other oil and gas companies, and a restriction of how foreign oil and gas extraction income is determined for purposes of the foreign income tax credit. The bill also includes a PAYGO gimmick that will force energy companies to remit $3 billion in estimated taxes in FY2013 sooner than they otherwise would have to.
What isn’t in the bill:
· Litigation reform, so that American energy exploration and development, including that authorized by this legislation, is not further halted by environmentalist lawsuits.
· Allowing energy exploration and development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
· Expedited petroleum refinery permitting.
· Expedited nuclear reactor permitting.
· There is also no language regarding futures markets speculation.
Call Nancy Pelosi at (202) 225-4965 and Tell Her to Get Back to Work
If your sick and tired of paying an arm and a leg for gas then please call Nancy “Nine Percent” Pelosi at (202) 225-4965 and ask her to return the House to session NOW to consider serious energy legislation that not only pursues a greater investment in renewable energies and technologies, but also provides for increased domestic drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), the oil shale areas, and the 10-02 Area of ANWR.
Feel free to pass her number on to everyone you know.
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