Recently Sarah Palin said Barack Obama was "scary wrong" on oil. Whitney Pitcher put together a great report that details exactly why Sarah Palin is right about this, and also points out the staggering amounts of recoverable oil and natural gas in Alaska:
As Governor Palin mentioned in her tweet, Alaska has billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. The Natural Petroleum Reserve in Alaska alone is estimated to have 53 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The Arctic is estimated to have 90 billion barrels of oil and 1. 67 quadrillion (1,670 trillion) cubic feet of natural gas. For some perspective, that is 1,670,000,000,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas. Those kinds of numbers make even Obama’s deficit numbers seem small!
She also mentioned that other states have large amounts of resources as well. For example, the Green River formation in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah is estimated to have 1.5 trillion barrels of oil–6 times as much as Saudi Arabia. There are 3-4.3 billion barrels of oil in the Bakken formation in North Dakota and Montana. Those a just a few examples of the abundance of God-given resources.
Read the rest of Whitney's comprehensive report here.
Economies run on energy. It's the life blood of any healthy economy. Rising energy prices cripple economies though, and hurt the poorest among us, as the price of oil determines the price of everything we buy. Since Obama has been in office, gasoline prices have already risen an unbelievable 67 percent and Americans expect $5 gasoline by July of this year. If this trend continues, we could see $10 or higher gas by July of 2012.
As Scott Conroy writes, Sarah Palin is the one potential presidential candidate who not only understands the energy issues but has hands-on experience:
As gasoline prices shot up for the 13th straight day on Monday to a new national average topping $3.50 and oil prices rose to over $106 a barrel, the cost of energy seemed poised once again to rise to the forefront of the political discourse just as the 2012 presidential campaign generates steam.
Of all the prospective Republican candidates, none may have a better opportunity to benefit politically from a nominating cycle in which gas prices take center stage than former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
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But it would be difficult for Palin's GOP rivals, and even her Democratic critics, to deny that energy issues fall directly into the wheelhouse of the former Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner who went on to lead a state where almost 90 percent of the budget is funded by oil revenue. As Tina Fey might say, Palin can see oil pipelines from her house.
During an appearance on Fox News last weekend, Palin nodded in anticipation and smiled confidently as host Jeanine Pirro lined up a question about what the government should do about rising gas prices.
Speaking with unbridled relish, Palin replied that opening the strategic oil reserves was not the solution to the problem and reverted to her old mantra that the government should "drill here and drill now" before going into a more in-depth criticism of the Obama administration's energy policies.
"Back in '08, our U.S. crude also was trading at about $100 a barrel as it is today for about six months, and that was right before our world economy imploded," Palin said. "And now here we are back again, so [Obama's] timing - his destructive timing - of locking up 97 percent of our off-shore and not allowing ANWR to be touched, not allowing domestic drilling to take place to the degree that it should, it is terrifying where he is leading us in terms of being at the mercy of foreign regimes that would seek our demise to produce energy for us."
With analysts predicting that gas prices are likely to soar even higher amid continued unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, other prospective GOP contenders have already begun seizing on the issue, as the high energy usage summer months approach rapidly.
During an appearance at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour accused Obama of intentionally boosting energy prices to promote a progressive environmental agenda.
"This administration's policies have been designed to drive up the cost of energy in the name of reducing pollution, in the name of making very expensive alternative fuels more economically competitive," Barbour said.
As the governor of a Gulf state, Barbour might also lay claim to having a special understanding of energy issues, but Palin for years has placed a particular emphasis on topic during her time in office and beyond.
The Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, which Palin signed into law in August of 2008, set the framework for a major natural pipeline proposal that would transport natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to the Lower 48.
On the vice presidential campaign trail just weeks later, Palin spoke more frequently about energy issues than any other subject, and the emotional high-point of her boisterous rallies often came when she led crowds of tens of thousands of people in chants of "drill, baby, drill!"
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As she continues to mull a presidential run, Palin figures to take particular note that energy issues figure to loom especially large in the nation's first voting state of Iowa.
"The people here who are large consumers of fuel, in the trucking industry or farmers, it cuts into their profitability, and those businesses will start to ask questions about what can be done to relieve costs of high fuel," said Polk County Republican co-chairman Will Rogers, a supporter of Newt Gingrich, who is in talks to become a paid consultant to the former House speaker in the coming weeks. "Whether it's Sarah Palin or Newt Gingrich or anybody else that's looking at running for president, this is a real issue for many Americans. If we see between now and January another $20 to $30 added to the price of a barrel of oil, people will be talking about it here in Iowa."
Besides being Alaska's top energy regulator, Sarah was also the Chairman of the Interstate Oil And Gas Compact Commission. The IOGCC is a multi-state government agency that works to ensure our nation's oil and natural gas resources are conserved and maximized while protecting health, safety and the environment.
From their website:
The IOGCC advocates for environmentally-sound ways to increase the supply of American energy. We accomplish this by providing governors of member states with a clear and unified voice to Congress, while also serving as the authority on issues surrounding these vital resources.
The Commission also assists states in balancing a multitude of interests through sound regulatory practices. Our unique structure offers a highly effective forum for states, industry, Congress and the environmental community to share information and viewpoints to advance our nation's energy future. We stand dedicated to securing resources needed to ensure our nation's energy, economic and national security.
We recommend books from time to time, and one I can't recommend enough is Sarah Takes On Big Oil, written by Kay Cashmann and Kristen Nelson. This book goes into great detail describing how Sarah got things done as Governor, while dealing with the oil companies. It's essential reading if one is to understand why a Palin presidency makes sense.
Cashman is the publisher and executive editor of Petroleum News and Nelson, the editor-in-chief, has maintained a long-time eye on Alaska government and its interactions with the state's most lucrative industry.
Recently we pointed out that Sarah Palin is the national security candidate, the clear favorite among those who view national security as their number one concern. Given that energy is very much a national security issue, it's the safe bet that Sarah Palin is the right person for the job.
Sarah has a two decades long history of leadership. Strong leadership. As the nation spirals out of control, we need strong leadership. We need Sarah Palin.
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