As this was being compiled it became obvious that our new president was very much involved in all of the above. He has always indicated his concern over global warming and the environment and his actions have borne this out. President Obama, himself, a few days after taking office issued new CAFÉ rules that raised the mileage requirements for cars and quickly followed that with directing federal regulators on to move on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict limits on greenhouse gases from cars and trucks. He also ordered the Transportation Department to begin drawing up rules imposing higher fuel-economy standards on cars and light trucks.
The directives made good on an Obama campaign pledge and were reversal of Bush administration policy.
Obama then directed the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Bush administration‘s past rejection of the California application. The president also directed the Transportation Department to draw up rules to implement a 2007 law requiring a 40
40
percent improvement in gas mileage for autos and light trucks by 2020. The Bush administration failed to write any regulations to enforce the new law.
In the previous chapter on the Environmental Protection Agency it was reported about their actions which stopped the Toll Bros. from reclaiming an area that was distressed; about continuing a drought by keeping water away from the San Joaquin Valley in California, about reactivating a 2006 investigation of Atrazine, about stopping the Arch Co. from coal mining, about issuing new standards on arsenic, about attempting to institute a new tax, about being sued by the state of Texas, and about implementing CAP and TRADE.
In February, 2011 both the Senate and the House introduced legislation to remove the authority from the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases and so we see that the Congress is aware that the EPA must be regulated and controlled.
It was bad enough before but now it is obvious that the EPA should be abolished. Obama will not only ignore the EPA. He will promote what it is intending to do.
In the previous chapter concerning Real Energy it was reported that the Constellation corp. had given up trying to start a nuclear power plant due to this administration. The same situation exists with coal. Permits to mine that were previously granted have now been rescinded and Mountain Top Removal is being held up in West Virginia. Coal has been demonized by this administration and as a result many companies are planning to change from coal to natural gas which is quite costly.
It was also reported that the administration had placed a moratorium on drilling in the Gulf leading to 23,000 people losing their jobs and that when Judge Martin Feldman ordered that the moratorium be lifted that the administration ignored the order which led the judge to cite them for contempt of court. Judge Feldman has now ordered (Feb.21, 2011)the administration to issue permits on five areas within 30 days.
Previously approved leasing was halted on the Outer Continental Shelf, oil and gas leases were halted in Utah and lease sales of eight parcels were stopped in Wyoming. In that same chapter it is reported that drilling sites in Alaska were stopped and, of course, Anwar is still off limits in Alaska. Also in Alaska the approved drilling in NPR-A was stopped.
He is not against drilling for he has approved loaning Brazil $2 billion to help them develop their deep-water oil field and has even indicated he would issue a permit for them to drill in our Gulf. He is only against our drilling. He makes ―cute‖ statements like ― use it or lose it‖ referring to the fact that oil companies are not drilling where the administration has approved drilling leases. The oil companies only drill where they think oil exists and not where the government issues leases.
So then we have Obama and our energy problems. There have been many announcements made about energy and most of them have been deliberately confusing. Obama has announced that the government was extending loan guarantees to build nuclear plants. Good.
However, the same regulatory hurdles are still there and loan guarantees are only a way to sound like something good is happening.
The conclusion is that President Obama has no intention of doing anything that will help us have more energy – from nuclear power, from oil or from coal. In fact we are able to conclude that he will actually take action that will reduce our energy supply.
He is directing the U. S. government to invest billions of dollars in solar and wind energy and electric cars and that money will be wasted. The Cap and Trade legislation, which he supported would have added around $850 billion to the costs of the private sector and the total environmental tab would have been in excess of a trillion dollars. He realized that costs would increase substantially for consumers but that does not bother him and now the EPA has announced that it will implement Cap & Trade.
It is accurate to say that Obama is a dedicated environmentalist. He believes in global warming and that carbon dioxide is real problem. That seems to be his reason for stopping oil drilling and coal mining. In spite of what is now known from Europe about wind energy he continues to advocate spending huge sums to develop that and also throws lots of money into solar energy development.
There are no attempts to build more oil refineries and with the volatile situation in the mid east this could quickly become a national security problem. Even though he verbally supports nuclear power the government‘s recent action has stopped the most promising proposal.
He is clearly a socialist and does not understand that the capitalist economic system continually produces more wealth, year after year, and that this system then continually provides the greatest prosperity to the most people. That system also distributes income approximately in proportion to the contribution made by individuals in that system. As former president John Kennedy stated, ― A rising tide lifts all boats‖.
The logical conclusion is that President Obama is an environmental-wacko who is actually willing to reduce our energy supply and waste money on fantasy energy projects that will not help us.
Another logical conclusion is that he is not blessed with great intelligence. As a Senator in Illinois he made no contribution to laws and as a U.S. senator he did not author any legislation. He has only held two press conferences in over two years in office and did not do well in either one – which is probably why he has not held more. His absolute, total, complete dependence on the teleprompter also indicates a lack of intelligence and unwillingness to ad lib or even try to speak impromptu (he really has a good speech writer). His belief in global warming is another indication of not being too smart. He has stated that we only have 2% of the worlds‘ ―proven reserves‖ as if that indicated we did not have enough oil to be developing. Has he never heard of Anwar, of shale deposits, and does he deny the existence of off shore oil? Or is he not very smart?
41
He does not realize that our constitution defines the best government in the world and adherence to it would solve our financial problems. He believed that stimulus programs would fix our economy. He promoted Obamacare with false statements and does not realize yet that it is a terrible piece of legislation. The administration has already issued hundreds of waivers to big businesses (no small businesses) and unions and to four states. There has never been an enactment where 26 states sued to have a law repealed and now other states are suing to get him to protect our borders and stop illegal immigration.
He is setting records for the number of vacations taken, for the number of times played golf, for the number of speeches made and for the most time spent away from Washington. And, the worst record of all is that in his first two years in office he has added $4 trillion to our debt.
There is also this to ponder:
In Dinesh D‘Souza‘s book, The Roots of Obama‘s Rage, on page 199 he states, ―Obama is on a systematic campaign against the colonial system that destroyed his father‘s dreams. With a kind of suppressed fury, he is committed to keep going until he has brought that system down. And according to his father‘s anti-colonial ideology, which Obama has internalized for himself, that system is the military and economic power of the United States of America.
We have a real problem with President Obama.