Environmentalist Part of the Problem of High Oil Prices

British Petroleum or BP wants to expand on an oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana. This would be a great thing considering no new oil refineries have been built since 1976, which is another reason you are paying four dollars for gas. Environmentalist does not seem to care about such matters though. On Wednesday, environmental group The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit that challenged air permits granted to BP by the State of Indiana.

The group claims the permits “simply do not protect the public and do not live up to the law.”

Protect the public… from what? The potential to increase gas and diesel production by 1.7 million gallons a day, or maybe it is protection from the creation of 2,000 construction jobs that would be created from the project to help Indiana families. What about the 80 permanent jobs it would create to run the place.

Ugh…you can always count on government to slow down progress.

In case you have not realized it yet, we are in the midst of a major energy crisis in this country. Now, some of you believe the solution to this crisis will come from the oh so wonderful government. You are wrong. The solution, as almost always, will come from the private sector. All the government has to do is get out of the way.

However, that is not happening. Solar thermal energy companies are getting a lesson in government regulations. These companies have proposed to build more than 130 solar power plants over 119 million surface acres of federally administered land in sun drenched, flat desert tracts of Arizona, Nevada and Southern California that is ideal for solar energy. These companies extract energy from the sun and then sell that energy to utility companies. It is estimated the projects have the potential to power 20 million homes, but the government has put a halt on new solar projects on public lands in order to study their environmental impact, which is estimated to take two years.

Solar energy is a fairly new industry, and most of these companies are new, struggling, hungry companies. It will be hard for them to stay afloat with a set back like this. This could stunt the growth of the energy.

This is your government at work solving the energy crisis. You can always count on government to slow down progress.

I want you to remember this story this winter when your power bills are through the roof.

Uh oh...looks like we have our first wounded in the global war on global warming! Some enviromental nut-jobs are now suffering from eco-anxiety and may need eco-therapy. Seriously folks, this is a real new disorder.