IER responds to State of the Union, calls for skepticism

WASHINGTON D.C. — Tonight, President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on the State of the Union. In his speech, President Obama called for greater domestic energy exploration, higher taxes on energy production, and more taxpayer subsidies for renewable energy. IER President Thomas Pyle released the following statement in response to the President’s speech:

“If the state of the union is actually stronger, it comes despite the policies of President Obama and not because of them. Tonight, the president claimed credit for ‘opening millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration,’ and he called for his administration to open ‘more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil and gas resources.’  He also claimed credit for the fact that oil imports are down, even though the drop owes more to the ongoing hardships experienced by millions of Americans who cannot find jobs or afford to drive in the Obama economy.

“Job creators and American consumers should welcome the president’s latest energy promises with suspicion.  Indeed, we must not forget that in the past month this administration has imposed one of the most onerous regulations on the American economy through EPA standards it admits will not have a measurable effect on health from the targeted emissions. Similarly, the president single-handledly rejected the Keystone XL pipeline permit and killed the chance for thousands of American blue collar workers to find good-paying jobs. Tonight the president offered a golden tongue on affordable energy, but for the past three years he’s clenched a green fist.

“The president continues to repeat the discredited mantra that America only has 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves. The Institute for Energy Research released last month the North American Energy Inventory, which uses government data to demonstrate that America is literally floating on energy. Under North American soil is twice as much oil as the combined proved reserves of every OPEC nation combined. As for natural gas, we have enough on this continent to provide America’s electricity needs for the next 575 years at current usage. The president just isn’t being honest with the American people about the vast energy supply that is literally under our feet. His own government reports show it.

“And in the same breath that he extolled the virtues of natural gas development and called for higher energy taxes on the companies that produce it, President Obama continues to press for more taxpayer subsidies for Solyndra-style green energy companies. He wants to increase taxes for Americans on the energy sources they use in order to give his friends and contributors in the green energy business another massive handout. Financing America’s energy future by taxing our current energy supply will not increase our energy security or strengthen our global position in the energy revolution. It will, however, make energy more expensive for struggling Americans and the businesses trying hard to keep pace with foreign competitors.”

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