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U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENCE IN REACH DESPITE OBAMA

Top economist: America is about to get '$75 billion tax cut'

Greg Corombos

Those plunging gas prices Americans are seeing are the result of a stunning oil and natural gas boom in the U.S. that is increasing supply, creating good jobs and making the nation less dependent upon countries that hate the U.S., and Heritage Foundation Chief Economist Stephen Moore says all of it comes in the face of fierce opposition from the Obama administration.

Over the past several weeks, gas prices have plummeted across the country, falling well below $3 per gallon in some part of the country. Moore said it’s the result of an oil and gas bonanza across the U.S. that is leaving OPEC no choice but to slash prices to compete. The irony, however, is that it’s an economic windfall the White House wishes weren’t happening.

“This is the biggest story of the American economy over the last six years. It dwarfs everything else. The United States of America is becoming energy dominant, something nobody would have predicted six years ago, and it’s happening under a president who hates this industry,” said Moore, who said the explosion in energy production could be much greater if there were an ally in the White House.

“Barack Obama hates the fossil fuels industry,” he said. “He hates coal. He hates oil. He hates gas because he’s so tied at the hip with radical environmentalists. So it’s astonishing we’ve been able to produce this much oil and gas with a president who doesn’t like the industry. Imagine how much faster this would grow if we had a president who wanted to nurture the industry and make it grow faster.”

In addition to a number of Environmental Protection Agency regulations aimed at various sectors of the energy industry, the case for Obama as an opponent of this trend has been the stark reduction in permits to explore for energy on federal lands since he took office. The vast majority of the boom, they say, is the result of permits granted for private lands and most of those were approved in the George W. Bush administration.

“The president has been trying to take credit for this, but I think most people realize he will not build the Keystone Pipeline,” Moore said. “He’s got an EPA that is trying to regulate and strangulate this industry out of business. He will not allow drilling on federal lands.  I think it makes it difficult for him to take credit for this boom.”

An even greater oddity, according to Moore, is that Obama is hostile to the industry, even though it’s probably the reason he won a second term as president.

“If it weren’t for this energy boom, the president never would have been re-elected in the first place,” he said. “No way, because the economy would have still been in a recession. So it saved his skin. It’s technology and oil and gas that are really driving our economy right now. I think even the president understands that.”

Nonetheless, the growth in the energy sector in recent years has been remarkable. Moore said American progress has radically altered the status quo when it comes to the energy markets.

“This great country of ours has become one of the dominant oil and gas producers in the world,” he said. “In just the course of the last five or six years, we’ve increased oil and gas output by over 60 percent, which is an enormous increase. We have now surpassed Russia as the number one natural gas producer in the world, and we’re about to surpass Saudi Arabia as the number one oil producer in the world.”

Moore calculates the recent plunge in gas prices is the equivalent of an annual $75 billion tax cut for the nation. And he said those prices may very well go even lower.

“We’ve seen a 25 percent decline already, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw gas prices go as low as maybe $2.50 or $2.60 a gallon, which would be very welcome relief,” he said.

In addition to cheaper energy costs, Moore said there are several other major benefits for the U.S. At the current pace of growth, he said, the U.S. could reach that elusive goal of energy independence rather soon.

“By my calculations, within five or six years, the United States of America could be energy independent,” he said. “That is, we will be exporting oil and natural gas rather than importing it.”

By diminishing and possibly eliminating U.S. dependence on foreign energy, Moore said America’s enemies will lose a lot of their leverage on the world stage, from Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons to many other areas.

“ISIS is getting $5 to $6 million a day from petro dollars, so if we can produce more oil and gas here in the United States, it’s a good way to defund the terrorists who are trying to kill us,” Moore explained. “It’s also a good way to put a nail in the coffin of OPEC, which has controlled the price of oil now for 40 years. No longer does it have that pricing power.”

Back at home, booming energy production means a lot of good job opportunities for Americans struggling to find work.

“These are good-paying jobs,” Moore said. “We’re talking about welders and drillers and people who are pipe-fitters and truckers and construction workers. We’re talking about jobs that are paying $60,000-$100,000 a year. These are good, blue-collar, middle-class jobs that we’re producing hundreds as we’re becoming energy independent.

“There’s nothing not to like about this picture.”

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