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The American Energy Act: Supply Side Solutions
The Heritage Foundation/The Foundry ^ | July 23rd, 2008 | Nick Loris

Posted on 07/23/2008 1:59:48 PM PDT by Delacon

Congressman John Boehner of Ohio is set to introduce The American Energy Act, which will most importantly increase America’s energy supplies. The bill calls for leasing regulations for offshore natural gas by 2010, removing restrictions for outer continental shelf drilling, and opening up sections of ANWR for drilling.

As The Heritage Foundation’s Senior Policy Analyst Ben Lieberman has been arguing this even when gas prices were around $1 a gallon. More energy supplies, not more taxes and regulations, are what this country needs. It’s economics 101: expanding supply is the surest way to lower energy prices, and the quicker Congress moves to open up restricted areas, the quicker more resources will be available.

As my colleague Michael Franc writes, it is the first time in awhile House Republicans are leading the charge on producing more in America here at home. Now that gas prices are surpassing $5 a gallon in some states, consumer pressure is causing a number of Members to switch their stance on drilling. Franc notes,

Recently, freshman Rep. Steve Kagen (D., Wisc.), who previously voted the environmental line, got religion. “Drill for new oil across America,” he wrote in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. On the Republican side, Maryland conservative Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, who has also opposed drilling, recently co-sponsored a plan to open up the vast oil and gas resources under the Alaskan Coastal Plain for exploration and development.”

These supply side ideas are considerably better than those that were tried and failed in the past. For instance, the Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008 (S. 3044), introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) would raise taxes on the price of oil, impose price gouging legislation that, in effect, led to supply shortages and long lines at the pump in the late 1970s.

Where Boehner’s bill falters is the support for renewable fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol. Ethanol has been a prime culprit for rising food prices not only in America but also globally. The federal government has been trying since the 1970s to pick winners and losers by subsidizing unsuccessful alternative sources of energy and these sources still only comprise a small fraction of America’s energy profile.

Overall, Congressman Boehner’s legislation is the right move to relieve American consumers from high gas prices. Lieberman summarizes it accurately: Good energy policy is easy to distinguish from bad energy policy: Good policy leads to more supplies of affordable energy, and bad policy leads to less.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: anwr; congress; democrats; drillheredrillnow; drilling; energy; gasprices; oil; pelosi
Contact your representatives.
1 posted on 07/23/2008 1:59:48 PM PDT by Delacon
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To: steelyourfaith; Entrepreneur; Beowulf; CygnusXI; Defendingliberty; WL-law; Genesis defender; ...

ping


2 posted on 07/23/2008 2:00:29 PM PDT by Delacon ("The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." H. L. Mencken)
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To: Delacon

Queen Nancy Pelosi will not be amused by this.


3 posted on 07/23/2008 2:04:20 PM PDT by DallasBiff
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To: Delacon; OKSooner; honolulugal; Killing Time; Beowulf; Mr. Peabody; RW_Whacko; gruffwolf; ...

FReepmail me to get on or off


Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown

New!!: Dr. John Ray's
GREENIE WATCH

The Great Global Warming Swindle Video - back on the net!! (click here)

Ping me if you find one I've missed.


-411-
4 posted on 07/23/2008 2:05:29 PM PDT by xcamel (Being on the wrong track means the unintended consequences express train doesnt kill you going by)
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To: Delacon
Is this related to Mitch McConnel's S.3202, the Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008? We need a national-focus plan, not just nibble around the edges.

* List (chapter and verse) all the regulations and laws that need to be repealed in order to drill, and drill now. Use this list as the new "Contract With America for Energy Security". Have a mega-bill introduced that in one fell swoop removes the self-imposed energy embargo. THINK BIG!

5 posted on 07/23/2008 2:12:23 PM PDT by SERKIT ("Blazing Saddles" explains it all.....)
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To: SERKIT

That would take huevos.....and those are lacking on the Republican side in D.C.


6 posted on 07/23/2008 2:13:36 PM PDT by sheana
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To: sheana
That would take huevos.....and those are lacking on the Republican side in D.C.

Huevos (or cajones) are truly lacking, much to our detriment.

7 posted on 07/23/2008 2:26:52 PM PDT by SERKIT ("Blazing Saddles" explains it all.....)
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To: MNJohnnie

Bookmark


8 posted on 07/23/2008 2:27:15 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (http://www.iraqvetsforcongress.com ---- Get involved, make a difference.)
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To: Delacon
Drilling is a great idea, but there is a lag of several years between allowing new drilling in ANWR or offshore and any of that oil hitting the market. There are other ways to drop the price. Since a large portion of the increase in oil prices is related to the drop of the dollar, it is important to address the causes of the dollars drop. Part of that drop has been caused by the Fed pumping a bunch of money into the economy the last few years, but a good portion of it is the result of a decrease in dollar demand caused by impending increases in taxes due to the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

Over the last 50 years, our competitors overseas have bit by bit improved conditions for investors. We have reached a point where investors can find better after-tax returns elsewhere. We need to push hard for lower taxes, especially capital gains and corporate taxes, fewer and clearer regulations and tort reform to make investment here make sense again. This would increase dollar demand and the dollar exchange rate and drop the price of gold and oil.

9 posted on 07/23/2008 3:44:35 PM PDT by tommythev
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To: Delacon
That's a start on a domestic energy policy.

The Democrat "No Domestic Energy Policy."


10 posted on 07/23/2008 4:02:47 PM PDT by TigersEye (Drill or get off the Hill. ... call Nancy Pelosi @ 202 - 225 - 0100)
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To: Delacon

With close to 1.5 Trillion barrels of shale oil under the feet of americans, it makes one wonder why when one can, not strive to be energy self-sufficient when one can be.

Add to that about a Trillion cubic feet of gas offshore and there`s enough energy to supply the USA for over 150 years.


11 posted on 07/23/2008 5:50:33 PM PDT by Para-Ord.45
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To: tommythev
Over the last 50 years, our competitors overseas have bit by bit improved conditions for investors.

An analogy I like to use: if a shopping mall is losing money because it's losing tenants, will it be better off raising rents or lowering them?

12 posted on 07/23/2008 6:57:01 PM PDT by supercat
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To: Para-Ord.45
Add to that about a Trillion cubic feet of gas offshore

A lot more than just a trillion cubic feet, try hundreds of trillions.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/otheranalysis/ongr.html

13 posted on 07/23/2008 7:12:56 PM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: supercat
Exactly. The Democrats want to make it harder for businesses to make a profit in the US. That is exactly the wrong prescription for a declining dollar and slowing economy. The last Dem to get it right was JFK who explained that a rising tide lifts all boats. When we forget about class warfare and envy, the poor get richer. When we try to mandate that the poor get richer by raising taxes on "greedy" corporations, the poor get poorer. Yet year after year, the the first approach is called heartless and the second is pushed by our amazingly economically stupid media and academic elites. Makes me shake my head in wonder.
14 posted on 07/24/2008 7:14:05 AM PDT by tommythev
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To: MNJohnnie

BTTT!


15 posted on 07/24/2008 8:44:13 AM PDT by MNJohnnie (http://www.iraqvetsforcongress.com ---- Get involved, make a difference.)
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