Environmental groups impact on energy supplies

Has America become:

"a country of a million Walter Mittys driving 75 mph in their gas-guzzling Bushwhack-Safari sport-utility roadsters with a moose head on the hood, a country whose crude oil production has dropped 32 percent in the last 25 years but which will not drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for fear of disturbing the mating habits of caribou.?"

Charles Krauthammer thought so when he wrote the above 10 years ago.

Today Krauthammer says:

I wrote that during the '96 witch hunt for price gougers. Nothing has changed. Except that since then, U.S. crude oil production has dropped an additional 12.3 percent.

The drop in domestic crude oil production is shocking. I'll say a few things about it in a moment.

But first this: One of President Bush's biggest mistakes has been his failure to commit the government to a vigorous energy conservation program, with an active role for every America.

We had such a program in WW II. As President Roosevelt knew, the conservation program, besides conserving vital war resources, gave citizens one more way to show support for the war. It helped sustain morale and support for the President as Commander-in-Chief.

Regarding the production drop:

Environmental groups are primarily responsible for it.

For decades they've successfully opposed every effort to lower our foreign energy dependence and increase domestic production. Domestic exploration? They've opposed it. Build new, more energy efficient refineries? Opposed. Nuclear power plants? Opposed. And on and on it goes.

The environmental groups opposition to expansion of domestic energy supplies has created a situation where it's now much easier and cheaper for energy companies to buy oil overseas than to find and develop news energy sources here.

But when groups such as Greenpeace and The Sierra Club fund-raise, they don't mention that. Instead they tell people to "Think Green" and help make the world a better place for Bambi.

That's enough to get millions of credulous people reaching for their credit cards.

I wish MSM reporters, pundits and editorialist would say more about environmental groups’ opposition to sensible energy policies.

Then maybe fewer people would find themselves saying, "I've got Amex # 18 .....

You can read Krauthammer's column here.