Reporters Want To Know Why Bush Does Not Preach To Americans About Energy Conservation

Bush is asked by a reporter in the press room about why he does not call on the American people to conserve energy, such as telling them to drive less and turn down thermostats. Bush gives the obvious answer. The American people are "plenty smart." They will decide how their thermostats should be and how much they should drive based on their own pocketbooks. Obviously everybody, including Bush in his answer, supports people using less energy where they can and using common sense so as not to waste energy for no reason. Stuff like turning off lights when you leave the room or not using air conditioning if you don't need it or are not in the house is something everyone common sense person supports. But Bush is not our Daddy and I don't need or want to be lectured by the government with mindless statements about about my driving or thermostats. Perhaps the headlines the media are looking for are "President says don't use AC when not in home" but I personally refer that the government take action on this issue and not just spout rhetoric. I prefer to see a headlines that say something like "Congress Passes ANWR Drilling Legislation" or "Offshore Drilling Permitted By Congress."

Bush has taken and supported actual governmental action, not just lecturing the people like Harry Reid about how "oil makes us sick." Since the beginning of his administration he has supported drilling in ANWR. For all those who claim that it will take years to get production up and running and be able to actually utilize that oil, let me remind you that if the anti-drilling members of Congress had allowed for it eight years ago then today it would be a very fruitful source of oil. It is an excuse that has relied on past governmental inaction as an excuse for continued inacton.

Bush has also set a showdown with Congress in motion by lifting the executive ban on offshore drilling put in place by President George H.W. Bush. A congressional ban on offshore drilling remains in place and it is now up to Congress to allow for this first step in the broad picture of getting America off of its foreign oil addiction and bringing down gas prices. The Democratic Congress is standing firm in it's anti-drilling stance as prices continue to rise.

Furthermore, even if oil from new drilling was not able to itself be used for some time, the fact is that if America permitted energy exploration on all fronts and allowed more drilling the market would respond and gas prices would go down. Allow me to provide some evidence. In today's press conference Bush repeated his insistence on new drilling and smacked the Dem Congress for not removing the congressional moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf and other offshore drilling.
CNBC's Larry Kudlow points out that "crude-oil futures for August delivery plunged $9.26, or 6.3 percent, almost immediately as Bush was speaking, bringing the barrel price down to $136." He concludes that "if Congress moves to seal the deal, oil prices will probably keep on falling. That’s the way traders work. They discount the future. Psychology and expectations can turn on a dime."

Kudlow also disputes the premise from the opponents of new drilling that it would take 10 years to produce oil from offshore drilling sayihng that "Wall Street research house Sanford C. Bernstein says that California actually could start producing new oil within one year if the moratorium were lifted. The California oil is under shallow water and already has been explored. Drilling platforms have been in place since before the moratorium. They’re talking about 10 billion barrels worth off the coast of California."

It's time to drill here at home and stop relying on getting all of our oil from foreign nations. We should not be dependent on the likes of Saudia Arabia which funds extremist Wahhabi Islam all over the world. It is time to start drilling here and now.

Of course drilling at home should not be the only thing we do to get off the foreign oil train, but it is certainly a very important first step. A step that Congress must take immediately.


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