It has been several decades since I was a 2nd Lt. at Ft. Benning, our US Army Infantry School. My first week at Ft. Benning an old Army Sergeant gave me some sound advice. He said “son, the way to be promoted in this Army is not to make decisions, especially positive decisions which make waves. You can make 9 excellent decisions and 1 bad decision. As a result of one bad decision you will not be promoted.” He gave me the key to understanding universal bureaucracy.

Interior Secretary Salazar, in the tradition of a first rate bureaucrat, has declared the US government is continuing the ban on offshore energy on our East Coast, West Coast; Eastern Gulf of Mexico, and parts of Alaska. Shell alone has spent over $2 billion obtaining leases, shooting seismic, sending personnel preparing to drill in Alaska and now they cannot drill offshore Alaska. The US government has received hundreds of millions of dollars from current offshore oil lease sales, plus the royalty from the producing wells. Secretary Salazar in essence has postponed a positive decision on offshore drilling. It is a decision which will have long term consequences on our strategic dependence on often unreliable imported foreign crude oil sources.

In addition there is a proposal to double the gasoline tax to generate revenue. There are proposals to remove oil industry tax breaks and increase taxes substantially.

There are proposals for mandated Renewable Energy, RES (Renewable Electricity Standards) on federal and state, and city levels. A study by the Heritage Foundation indicates these proposals will increase household electric prices by 36%; industry prices by 60%; national income (GDP) would be cut by $5.2 Trillion dollars between 2012 and 2035; and RES would eliminate over 1 million US jobs.

There are a series of decisions being made which will result in across the board Higher Energy Prices. The Era of Cheap Energy is over thanks to our ever growing bureaucrats, federal policies, increasing tax burden, and federal, state, and local regulations.

Be prepared for a shock regarding future High Energy Prices.