After failing to blow up Saudi Arabian oil facilities in the past year, imagine that next week or next month Al Qaeda is able to pull off a successful devastating attack on the Kingdom’s oil reserves.
Imagine that after Venezuelan Parliament voted to take control of four heavy oil ventures run by foreign oil companies this week, that next month Hugo Chavez drastically cuts off sales to America after securing a huge deal with China.
Imagine that Nigerian rebels attack foreign oil workers in Africa’s largest oil producing country and cause the country to completely cut output.
What would America do? Why?
This ought to make your blood boil!
Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) explained the reason behind the high gasoline, oil, and natural gas prices we are experiencing today, in a speech on the Senate floor yesterday, titled…
“The MiNOrity answer is always NO!”
Senator Craig…
We are experiencing higher gasoline, oil, and natural gas prices today because of decades of restricted development of new sources of petroleum.
From ANWR to off-shore development such as Lease Area 181 in the Gulf of Mexico, we have identified oil and natural gas reserves that can be developed and used responsibly. Yet time and time again efforts to increase supply, and reduce prices, are blocked. For instance, ten years ago President Clinton vetoed development in ANWR.
Senator Craig…
For decades, the minority party has blocked one effort after another to responsibly develop the energy resources our country possesses, transforming vast areas of opportunity into “The No Zone.”
Senator Craig…
Because of current U.S. policy, U.S. companies are prohibited from developing oil fields that lie in Cuban waters and come within 50 miles of Florida.
However, Cuba is exploring and potentially developing these oil fields, estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey to possess more oil than the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, and Cuba is partnering with China and other countries, such as Spain, France, and Canada.
Senator Craig…
Now, as we sit idly by, worried about development 100 miles from Florida, China is actively exploring oil fields 50 miles from Key West, Florida. U.S. companies are barred from working in this area because of U.S. policy . So, instead of allowing the most environmentally responsible companies to operate there and increase our domestic supply, China, who has a dismal environmental record, is sucking close, lucrative oil reserves dry.
On Thursday, May 11, 2006, Senator Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., introduced legislation that will allow U.S. companies to compete for and develop oil and natural gas resources in Cuban waters. The oil fields are currently being explored by a number of other countries, including China, India, Spain, and Canada.
Sure we’d all like to have other sources of energy today and we’d also like rainbows and buttercups everyday, but this crisis we are in today demands mature solutions. Hope is not a defense policy. Hope is not an energy policy, either!
Hat Tip Larwyn
