While the fundamental issues of environment and energy have not been center stage in the 2012 elections, they represent a significant partisan Democrat constituency of liberal-progressive Obama Administration policies and, therefore, his ecopolitics.
Many of these policy initiatives have been handled by Obama-appointed cabinet members and his controversial policy “czars.” Distinguished by their regulatory activism and lack of commercial world experience, names like Chu, Salazar, Browner, Sunstein, Holdren, Jones and Jackson have been Obama’s vanguard in promoting some of the most radical environmental and energy ideas ever imagined in American government.
Many of these progressive policies promoting failed renewables subsidies, drilling moratoria, war on fossil fuels, gratuitous regulations and climate hysterics have proven to be: 1) costly to government, taxpayers and job growth; 2) petty partisan political pageantry and symbolism; and 3) without positive economic, energy or environmental impacts.
Here are some of the ecopolitics positions taken by the Obama Administration:
Obama was for --
• Massive increases in government regulations. The Heritage Foundation says that Obama proposed almost four times as many regulations as did Bush in his first three years;
• Blocking new energy resource development on public lands and energy infrastructure expansion such as the Keystone XL pipeline;
• Spending billions for green energy jobs. Promised 5 million new green energy jobs, but created less than 400;
• War on coal. Promised to “bankrupt” new coal-fired power plants and associated mining with air quality controls;
• Limiting oil and gas exploration with prohibitions on 94% of federal onshore lands and 97% of federal offshore lands;
• Allowing doubling gasoline prices by restricting supplies. This amounts to a significant tax upon all Americans;
• Restricting new drilling permits. The Heritage Foundation says that new oil drilling permits are down from their historic averages;
• Restrictions on new oil and gas extraction technologies. New “fracking” technology is America’s path to energy independence. (IBD, Nov. 5, 2012)
Obama was against --
• REINS Act requiring major new regulations costing more than $100 million to be approved by Congress;
• Moratorium on new regulations until national unemployment is below 6%;
• Allowing greater offshore drilling;
• Preventing EPA from regulating or taxing greenhouse gases;
• Overturning EPA boiler regulations;
• Reforming the federal rulemaking process. (WSJ, Oct. 29, 2012)
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