In yet another attempt to put big industry profits before the well-being of the American people (at the expense of individuals and small businesses alike), U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue has written a letter to President Obama urging that his administration expand offshore and onshore oil drilling and exploration across the United States. Here’s the story, cross-posted from The Wall Street Journal:
In a letter Tuesday to President Barack Obama, Mr. Donohue called on the administration to speed up issuing new offshore drilling permits, offer more offshore areas for oil and gas exploration, open new areas for drilling in the Western U.S., and approve permits for the Keystone XL pipeline proposed to bring oil from Canadian tar sands to the U.S. That project has been held up in part by opposition from the Environmental Protection Agency.
“You have appropriately called for our country to responsibly use more of our own resources but, thus far, the requisite actions from the responsible departments in your administration have not been forthcoming,” Mr. Donohue wrote.
Mr. Donohue’s letter doesn’t stake out much new ground. The Chamber has long criticized the Obama administration for proposing regulations that would limit consumption of fossil fuels. But the letter does signal that despite the recent easing of gasoline prices, the Chamber and its allies plan to continue challenging the administration’s energy policy. Republican lawmakers also have maintained fire on Mr. Obama’s energy policy, looking to capitalize on voter discontent over high gasoline prices.
Mr. Obama said in March that he supported increased domestic production, and called on oil companies to develop more of the leases they already have. Mr. Obama didn’t set a timetable for offering new offshore leases. Administration officials have pointed to the increasing number of offshore drilling permits it has issued to dispute oil industry complaints that the offshore oil regulators are dragging their feet more than a year after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and a subsequent moratorium on new deep-water drilling.
And this comment from a reader of the article sums up our position perfectly:
JS Wrote: The US CofC is so rabidly pro-superbigbusiness, that as a small business owner I can truly say that there is no position they take that either helps me or that I agree with. Personally, I think they should take the US off of their name, and just call it the CofC, since a multitude of their polices seem to hurt the very country they claim in their name…
We agree with you, JS. One more reason (and there were already so many) to declare “The U.S. Chamber Doesn’t Speak for Me.”
