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Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has accused Democrats of adopting the anti-oil agenda of environmental elitists as an element of their own energy policy.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Hatch said the Democratic leadership in Congress doesn't seem to understand that the greater the supply of oil, the lower the prices. So instead of boosting domestic production and lowering prices and the nation's dependency on foreign oil, he added, Democrats investigate oil futures, ban Canadian oil imports and delay the commercial production of oil shale.
"The poorest American spends about 50 percent of their income on energy, and not enough is said about that," Hatch said. "The sad thing is that the poor look to liberals to make their national policies for them, but in this case they're being sold out."
Hatch further took liberal members of the Majority party to task for stalling the commercial development of oil shale.
"We have as much oil in oil shale in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming as the rest of the world combined," Hatch said. "We have a federal law that layers on every available environmental protection but also would allow companies to develop this resource, that's ten times richer in oil than a normal oil well. So what do the liberals do?¬ They put a one-year moratorium on the release of commercial leasing regulations.¬ Some on the other side say they don't want it to happen too fast.
"Well I congratulate them, because the existing law, which I sponsored, makes is abundantly clear that each governor gets to decide how quickly development should move forward in their respective states, and they know that," the senator added. "What they're really doing is making sure the governor of Utah never gets a chance to make that decision.¬ So now we have companies that have spent tens of millions of dollars in good faith, and they're just plain getting shut down.¬ How are they supposed to go out and attract investors when Congress is acting to stop regulations for commercial leases?"
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This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.
-- Theodore Roosevelt
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It is the flag just as much of the man who was naturalized yesterday as of the men whose people have been here many generations.
-- Henry Cabot Lodge
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If our country is worth dying for in time of war, let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace.
-- Hamilton Fish |
