EPA Admission Makes Dems’ War on Energy Official

April 30, 2012

Democrats’ Anti-Energy Agenda Was Clear Before EPA Official Admitted that the EPA’s Strategy Is to “Crucify” Energy Job Creators

A top EPA official admitted that the EPA “philosophy” is to “crucify” energy producers, prompting a backtracking from the agency only after a public outcry.
These comments might be easy to overlook if they weren’t part of a well-documented pattern of Democrats promising to wage war on energy and the millions of American families who rely on having affordable energy.
We didn’t need to hear an Obama administration official admit they want to “crucify” energy job creators to know that this administration has a commitment to waging war on domestic energy supplies. Democrats have proven it over and over again with their anti-energy policies.

A top EPA official admitted that the EPA “philosophy” is to “crucify” energy producers, prompting a backtracking from the agency only after a public outcry:

TOP EPA OFFICIAL ADMITTED AGENCY’S “PHILOSOPHY” IS TO “CRUCIFY” ENERGY PRODUCERS: “It’s no secret that the bosses at the Environmental Protection Agency hate fossil fuels. But few are as candid as Al Armendariz, the regional administrator who says the agency’s ‘general philosophy’ is to ‘crucify’ oil and gas producers.” (Editorial, “ ‘Crucify Them’,” The Wall Street Journal, 4/26/2012)

SHOCK: EPA TRIES TO “FIND THE FIRST FIVE GUYS THEY [SEE]” AND “CRUCIFY THEM”: “That’s how EPA chief Lisa Jackson’s point man for Texas, Oklahoma and other south-central states put it in 2010 lecture. Mr. Armendariz explains that his staff’s ‘philosophy of enforcement’ is ‘like how the Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go into a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they would crucify them. And then you know that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.’ The point is to ‘make examples’ of alleged lawbreakers.” (Editorial, “ ‘Crucify Them’,” The Wall Street Journal, 4/26/2012)

EPA ADMINISTRATOR LISA JACKSON TRIES TO BACKTRACK, CLAIMS COMMENTS WERE “DISAPPOINTING”: (Ericka Martinson, “EPA Administrator: ‘Crucify’ Comments Were Disappointing,” Politico Pro, 4/27/2012)

These comments might be easy to overlook if they weren’t part of a well-documented pattern of Democrats promising to wage war on energy and the millions of American families who rely on having affordable energy:

OBAMA WANTED ENERGY PRICES TO “NECESSARILY SKYROCKET” UNDER HIS CAP-AND-TRADE PLAN: “ ‘Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket,’ Obama told the Chronicle. ‘Coal-powered plans, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plans were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.” (Catherine Richert, “Pence Claims that Obama said Energy Costs Will Skyrocket with a Cap-and-Trade Plan,” PolitiFact.com, 6/11/2009)

ENERGY SECRETARY STEPHEN CHU SAID LOWERING GAS PRICES WAS NOT A GOAL FOR HIS DEPARTMENT: “COMMITTEE QUESTION: “But, is the overall goal to get our price lower?” SEC. STEVEN CHU: “No, the overall goal is to decrease our dependency on oil…” (Remarks from Stephen Chu, U.S. House Of Representatives, Appropriations Committee, Hearing, 2/28/2012)

FLASHBACK TO CHU IN SEPTEMBER 2008: “SOMEHOW WE HAVE TO FIGURE HOW TO BOOST THE PRICE OF GASOLINE TO THE LEVELS IN EUROPE”: “ ‘Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,’ Mr. Chu, who directs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September.”(Neil King, Jr. and Stephen Power, “Times Tough for Energy Overhaul,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/12/2008)

We didn’t need to hear an Obama administration official admit they want to “crucify” energy job creators to know that this administration has a commitment to waging war on domestic energy supplies. Democrats have proven it over and over again with their anti-energy policies:

DEMOCRATS ARE WAGING WAR ON COAL:

NEW EPA REGULATIONS WOULD “END THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONVENTIONAL COAL-FIRED FACILITIES IN THE UNITED STATES”: (Juliet Eilperin, “EPA Imposes First Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants,” The Washington Post, 3/27/2012)

UNITED MINE WORKERS CHIEF: “LISA JACKSON SHOT US IN WASHINGTON”: “‘The Navy SEALs shot Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and Lisa Jackson shot us in Washington,’ Cecil Roberts, president of the powerful union, said during an interview Tuesday on the West Virginia radio show MetroNews Talkline.” (Andrew Restuccia, “Mine Union Boss: Coal Industry Could Suffer Same Fate as Bin Laden,” The Hill, 4/4/2012)

MORE: NEW RULE IS “AN ALL-OUT… DECISION BY THE EPA THAT WE’RE NEVER GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER COAL-FIRED FACILITY” IN AMERICA:(Andrew Restuccia, “Mine Union Boss: Coal Industry Could Suffer Same Fate as Bin Laden,” The Hill, 4/4/2012)

“THIS STANDARD EFFECTIVELY BANS NEW COAL PLANTS”: “Industry officials and environmentalists said in interviews that the rule, which comes on the heels of tough new requirements that the Obama administration imposed on mercury emissions and cross-state pollution from utilities within the past year, dooms any proposal to build a coal-fired plant that does not have costly carbon controls.

“ ‘This standard effectively bans new coal plants,’ said Joseph Stanko, who heads government relations at the law firm Hunton and Williams and represents several utility companies. ‘So I don’t see how that is an ‘all of the above’ energy policy.’” (Juliet Eilperin, “EPA Imposes First Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants,” The Washington Post, 3/27/2012)

13% OF COAL POWERED ENERGY BEING SHUT DOWN BECAUSE OF NEW RULES: (Juliet Eilperin, “EPA Imposes First Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants,” The Washington Post, 3/27/2012)

OBAMA’S EPA WAGING WAR ON OIL AND GAS REFINERIES:

REPORT: “EPA REGS COULD HAMPER OIL, NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION, REPORT SAYS”: (Ben Wolfgang, “EPA Regs Could Hamper Oil, Natural Gas Production, Report Says,” The Washington Times, 3/15/2012)

OIL PRODUCTION COULD DROP 37%, NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION COULD DROP 11%: “Domestic oil and natural gas production could plummet if proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations, designed to limit emissions from well sites, go into effect later this year, industry leaders said Thursday.

“The natural gas extraction technique known as ‘fracking’ would be hardest hit, and fuel extracted via the popular process would drop by about 52 percent, according to a new study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute. Total gas production would decrease by about 11 percent, while domestic oil production could fall by as much as 37 percent, the report says.” (Ben Wolfgang, “EPA Regs Could Hamper Oil, Natural Gas Production, Report Says,” The Washington Times, 3/15/2012)

“UNTOLD STORY” BEHIND RISING GAS PRICES IS REFINERIES BEING DRIVEN OUT OF BUSINESS “IN NO SMALL PART BY COSTLY EPA RULES”:“The untold story behind soaring pump prices is that major U.S. refineries are going out of business and creating at least regional shortages thanks in no small part to costly EPA rules.” (Editorial, “EPA’s Heavy Hand Seen In Gas Crisis,”Investor’s Business Daily, 3/22/2012)

OVER LAST SIX MONTHS, THREE REFINERIES SUPPLYING HALF EAST COAST GASOLINE HAVE CLOSED: “Over just the past six months, three refineries supplying about half the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to the East Coast have closed, including two owned by Sunoco Inc. They say they simply cannot make money anymore.” (Editorial, “EPA’s Heavy Hand Seen In Gas Crisis,”Investor’s Business Daily, 3/22/2012)

DEMOCRATS ARE WAGING WAR ON OFFSHORE DRILLING:

1/2: THE RATE AT WHICH OBAMA IS ISSUING NEW DEEP-WATER DRILLING PERMITS RELATIVE TO THE HISTORICAL AVERAGE: (Editorial, “‘Stupid’ and Oil Prices,” The Wall Street Journal, 2/24/2012)

1/3: THE RATE AT WHICH OBAMA IS ISSUING NEW SHALLOW-WATER DRILLING PERMITS RELATIVE TO THE HISTORICAL AVERAGE: (Editorial, “‘Stupid’ and Oil Prices,” The Wall Street Journal, 2/24/2012)

IHS STUDY: OBAMA ADMIN SLOWWALKING PERMITS AFTER MORATORIUM OFFICIALLY ENDED: “A study by the business-consultant firm IHS found that the federal government issued 51 new drilling permits in the year following the lifting of the drilling moratorium. That was down from 157 annual permits approved before the regulations took effect.” (Bill McMorris, “Obama’s Energy Slowdown,” The Washington Free Beacon, 3/13/2012)

GULF BUSINESSES FRET THAT “PERMITORIUM” REMAINS IN PLACE: (KatieMoore, “New Study: Small Businesses Hit Hardest by Drilling Delays,” WWL TV, 1/31/2012)

“HIDDEN VICTIMS” OF OBAMA DRILLING PERMITORIUM ARE SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES, ACCORDING TO GREATER NEW ORLEANS INC. REGIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE: (“The Impact of Decreased and Delayed Drilling Permit Approvals on Gulf of Mexico Business,” GNO Inc., 3/1/2012)

50% OF GULF OF MEXICO BUSINESSES HAVE LAID OFF WORKERS DUE TO MORATORIA: (“The Impact of Decreased and Delayed Drilling Permit Approvals on Gulf of Mexico Business,” GNO Inc., 3/1/2012)

“39% OF BUSINESSES HAVE REDUCED SALARIES AND/OR HOURS”: (“The Impact of Decreased and Delayed Drilling Permit Approvals on Gulf of Mexico Business,”GNO Inc., 3/1/2012)

46% OF BUSINESSES HAVE MOVED ALL OR SOME OF THEIR OPERATIONS OUT OF THE GULF OF MEXICO: (“The Impact of Decreased and Delayed Drilling Permit Approvals on Gulf of Mexico Business,” GNO Inc., 3/1/2012)