Read here and here. The United States economic success needs reliable and secure sources of oil and natural gas. Does that mean we should quit importing these fossil fuels? Absolutely not. Attempting to achieve true energy independence is hardly possible, nor an economical strategy. With that said, to strengthen our energy security and flexibility would be a wise course of action, though. To expand our energy security, we need to explore and better develop our own fossil fuel resources, not shrink or curtail them as the Obama administration just did. Because Obama and his advisers are amazingly clueless about what makes business and the American economy really tick, they end up proposing policies that can be best summarized as economic insanity. (click on image to enlarge)
"Obama did not open new lands to offshore drilling – all of these areas were already open for drilling once Congress and President Bush lifted the moratorium in 2008. Instead, President Obama yesterday announced what areas he would CLOSE to offshore drilling....over 360 million acres are now under a new “Obama Moratorium” that blocks American energy production....plan puts 13.14 billion barrels of oil and 41.49 trillion cubic feet of natural gas under lock and key....The entire Pacific Coast is now off limits. The Pacific Coast alone holds an estimated 10.5 billion barrels of oil—almost 75 percent of the total amount available off the U.S. coastline in former moratorium areas – and 18 trillion cubic feet of natural gas"