Energy industry

While the White House has done little or nothing to promote the fossil fuel energy boom of which The President is now taking credit for, it is not too late. There is still much the government can do to promote this industry. The administration can increased access to domestic energy reserves onshore and offshore by leasing more areas under federal control, reversing the slide in oil and natural gas production on federal lands from 2009 to 2013. It can streamline the federal permitting process for drilling and weed out red-tape regulatory obstacles to safe and responsible development. The administration can let privately-financed energy export projects go forward so that American liquefied natural gas (LNG) can claim a share of the developing global market that befits the world’s number one producer. It can lift America’s anachronistic, self-hindering ban on crude oil exports- which, along with LNG exports, would stimulate more domestic production and economic growth while bringing overseas wealth into this country. It can back repeal of the counter-productive Renewable Fuel Standard and its potentially harmful mandates requiring ever-increasing use of ethanol. All of this can be done with a stroke of The Presidents pen! Jobs in the energy industry pay on average five times the minimum wage and include many blue collar jobs. For a president who is concerned about the gap between rich and poor this is an opportunity to do something about it but we wait as The President contemplates what to do about some minor project like the Keystone Pipeline.