Washington Examiner
Editorial
November 25, 2009
Last week, President Obama aggressively promoted the need for energy exploration — in China.
“Under the initiative, the U.S. and China will use experience gained in the United States to assess China’s shale gas potential, promote environmentally-sustainable development of shale gas resources, [and] conduct joint technical studies to accelerate development of shale gas resources,” the White House said in a statement. Obama’s boost for energy exploration in China comes three months after the U.S. government agreed to $2 billion in loans to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration in Brazil’s offshore Tupi oil field.
We’re pleased that Obama supports energy exploration, but why in China and Brazil, and not in the United States? Only a month ago, the Department of the Interior announced it would review Bush administration leases for domestic oil shale exploration. So far, in 2009 the Obama Department of the Interior offered fewer acres to be leased for energy exploration than in any other year on record.
Why doesn’t Obama “accelerate development” of energy resources back in America? Environmental concerns about domestic energy exploration are often cited, but energy companies have made great technological strides in reducing environmental risks. Developing economies, including Brazil and China, lack such safeguards. Domestic energy exploration would be a boon to job creation and economic growth, to say nothing of what new U.S. energy sources would do to reduce gas and utility prices for American families struggling to make ends meet.
The editorial continues here.
