During the brief government shutdown Barack Obama and Sen. Ed Markey blamed Republicans for halting oil and gas drilling permits.
The truth is that Barack Obama is the one cutting oil and gas permits. In fact he has the worst record on granting permits than any president in recent years.
The Institute for Energy Research reported:
A week after the “government shutdown” began, President Obama and Sen. Ed Markey blamed the government shutdown for halting oil and natural gas drilling permits. Halting oil and gas permitting because of the shutdown is one more example of how dysfunctional the federal permitting system is.
President Obama stated that “The Republicans say they’re very concerned about drilling,” adding “Well, one of the things that happens when the government shuts down is new drilling permits aren’t processed.” This is similar to a short document released by Sen. Markey which blames “The GOP government shutdown is going to lead to decreased oil, gas and renewable energy production on public lands and costing taxpayers money.”
Both the President and Mr. Markey fail to admit that the President himself is to blame for the halting of permitting, well before the government shutdown. The federal government brings in billions of dollars a years from oil and natural gas leasing. In fiscal year 2012, mineral leasing (which includes oil and natural gas) brought in $12 billion to the federal government. If President Obama and Sen. Markey were serious about increase federal revenue they would be doing everything possible to continue leasing and even expediting leasing.
But oil and gas leasing under President Obama has been decreasing, even before the shutdown.
