Obama's energy policy: Unicorn Farts as the Fuel of Tomorrow

On Friday, the President of the United States accused his Republican opponents of being members of the Flat Earth Society because of their demands that the nation increase drilling.

In no small bit of irony, the President who bitterly lamented the rise of ATM’s and internet travel options accused the GOP of wanting to bitterly cling to the past.

But what of Barack Obama’s energy policy? He likes to tout wind and solar technologies and batteries, but it seems while he accuses the GOP of being flat earthers, the reality is that the President is himself anti-science when it comes to the reality of domestic energy needs.

His solution to fueling our cars amounts to using unicorn farts as gas — which has just as much a chance of happening as the mythic battery powered cross country run.

The facts are pretty simple. As a matter of both science and reality, battery technology is neither good enough nor cheap enough to supply American needs relating to transportation. Even were there batteries available for vehicles, the cost of conversion for the tens of millions of cars on the road right now would be cost prohibitive and increasing fuel standards, resulting in smaller and smaller cars, penalize families. Try piling a family of four in a Prius for a trip to grand mom’s house for Spring Break. The luggage and leg room will make for an exciting time.

Even beyond the family car, a battery will not put an 18 wheeler on the road, a 747 in the air, or a locomotive on its rails. Americans depend on crude oil right now and in the future. To cling to the hope of a battery that can meet American automotive needs is anti-science and as realistic as fueling our future with unicorn farts. See Charles Lane at the Washington Post for more on the President’s crusade against science.

This President’s policies have done everything possible to drive up the price of crude oil in hopes that some mythical unicorn fart, solar panel, or battery will come online quickly enough to meet American needs. It is not happening. Going back to May of 2009, the President insisted on discouraging the “overproduction of oil” as potentially damaging to our national security. If only we had a President who understood supply and demand.

Under Barack Obama’s administration, domestic exploration on federal lands and seas is down 40%. The gains we have seen have come largely from one new find, Thunder Horse, approved by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The exploration on land has come on private land Barack Obama could not stop.

For stability, the oil market depends on an excess supply of 1 million to 2 million barrels a day. The Keystone XL Pipeline would have provided an additional 700,000 barrels a day by itself. Barack Obama stopped it.

The reality is the President’s polling is going down because the logical outcomes of his policies are coming to pass. Now the President is left to demagogue the GOP instead of actually doing anything because he really does not want lower gas prices. He wants, instead, to continue using government stimulus funds to explore unicorn farts, solar, etc. as an energy source. After spending over $15 billion, there are only 3,545 jobs to show for it and a lot of bankruptcies and wasted money.

Meanwhile, the oil and natural gas sector of the economy is creating 20% of the good jobs in America. Imagine how much lower unemployment could be if Barack Obama were not so hostile to real energy.