Energy Institute: Obama's Speech Is 'Old Whine In New Bottles'

From the Institute for Energy Research:

WASHINGTON- Today, President Obama unveiled his new energy plan to decrease America’s imports of oil by one third over the next ten years. In response, Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, issued the following statement:

“This is starting to get embarrassing for the President. After his gaffe a few weeks ago where he celebrated an oil find in Brazil, the exact type of discovery that his policies are preventing in America, President Obama is trying to put on a new face. He wants us to believe that his policies are pro-energy and pro-growth. But his rhetoric stands in direct contradiction to his policies.”

“The Obama anti-energy agenda has decreased expected production in the Gulf of Mexico by 360,000 barrels of oil per day. By withholding the necessary permits to produce energy in Alaska, the Trans Alaska Pipeline System is only filled at one third of its capacity. The Outer Continental Shelf holds at least 80 billion barrels of oil– four times as much as the ‘two percent’ the President says we have – but the Obama Administration either refuses to offer those resources for lease or refuses to grant permits to explore for and produce these resources.”

“History shows that President Obama’s destructive policies, which are reducing potential domestic energy production, will necessarily lead to higher imports.”

“President Obama wants us to believe that oil companies are hoarding resources and sitting on leases for profit. But we’ve shown numerous times that not every lease holds oil or gas. On top of that, the Obama Administration is preventing eager companies from developing these resources by withholding permits. Not letting the facts get in his way, the President wants to force American companies to pay higher prices for leases, which will undoubtedly be passed on to the consumer and will result in American jobs going overseas.”

“Today, President Obama did not lay out a new energy plan. He compiled the same failed, anti-energy proposals of the past and repackaged them in new clothes. If the President is really interested in a secure American energy future, he should stop proposing policies that directly hurt American producers and consumers.”