San Diego Union-Tribune
When it comes to evaluating President Barack Obama and the continuing surge in the cost of gasoline, a fair starting point is what administration officials have said on the topic. It is a matter of record that Energy Secretary Stephen Chu used to say that “we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe” – which are about double the U.S. level. While Chu disowned his comments before taking office, his policy prescriptions didn’t change.
It is also a matter of record that the Obama administration has put vastly more emphasis on “green” energy, via subsidies, incentives and mandates, than fossil fuels. While doing so, the president plays a double game: In meetings with environmental groups and their political allies, he pats himself on the back for positioning America for a post-fossil fuels era in which the nation enjoys a cleaner environment and is less dependent on foreign oil from unstable, unfriendly nations. But when it is politically necessary – as it has become in recent weeks – the administration insists it is gung ho on fossil fuels. “Our domestic oil production is at an eight-year high,” Obama campaign aide Robert Gibbs said last week.
This is beyond slippery. The primary reason domestic oil production has grown rapidly in recent years is development of new fields on private land in North Dakota. Oil production on federal lands is down sharply.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/feb/28/obamas-double-game-on-fossil-fuels/