Seven facts about current energy policy you should know.

Fact: While production is, in fact, trending  upwards under Obama, this has nothing to do with his policies, but is the result of permits and private industry efforts that began long before Obama occupied the White House.  Just in the slow-down of "fracking" permits in California, alone,  the EPA has cost the economy the loss of more than 6,000 jobs and $1.04 billion. 

Fact: The Energy Dept. says Gulf oil output will be down 17% by the end of 2013, compared with the start of 2011.  The Washington Examiner tells us that the loss of jobs in Ohio as relates to the EPA's rejection of shale permits totals 200,000 job.  

Fact:  the Keystone pipeline is being delayed until sometime after the election,  in an effort to appease Left Wing environmental nuts. These delays are being defended under the guise of "protecting the environment."  The truth of the matter is this: the wacko's at the EPA have actually approved this pipeline twice.  People forget that the EPA is managed by so-called "environmental wacko's," factually removing the environmental argument from the discussion. 

Fact:  the U.S. has a mind-boggling 1.4 trillion barrels of oil, enough to "fuel the present needs in the U.S. for around 250 years," according to the Institute for Energy Research. The problem is the government has put most of this supply off limits.

Fact: Production of renewable energy — biomass, wind, solar and the like — climbed just 12% between 2008 and 2011, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. Obama mentioned fuel derived from algae,  but failed to mention that such technology is three decades removed from any hope of viable production,  and even then,  promises to supply less than 1% of our total need.

Fact: Renewable energy simply won't play an important role in the country's energy picture anytime soon, accounting for just 13% of U.S. energy production by 2035, according to the EIA.

Fact: Obama could drive down oil prices right now simply by announcing a more aggressive effort to boost domestic supplies.  Understand that the current hike in price is due to the futures market,  the EIA, a government agency.  lists "futures" pricing at $107 per barrel as of this posting.     When President Bush lifted a moratorium in 2008, oil prices fell from $146 a barrel to $33 per barrel in 7 months.  The price at the pump fell from $4.56 a gal. to $1.83 on the day Obama took office. Understand that investors believe Obama's EPA policies will keep production from being what it could be.  As a result,  they are buying at inflated rates because they believe that oil production,  under the new policies of this Administration,  will continue to be restricted in comparison to what it could and should be in the near future. 

Update:

Fact:  The WSJ tells us that approval of an offshore drilling plan now takes 92 days, 31[days] more than the historical average. And so far in 2012, an average of 23% of all drilling plans have been approved, compared to the average of 73.4%.


Credit Investors.com for much of the above dialogue/ Midknight Review for a portion/remainder as noted in the text.