Showing posts with label Congress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Congress. Show all posts

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Obama Asserts Executive Privilege Backing Embattled Attorney General Over Fast and Furious - Today House voted and Passed to Hold Attorney General Erick Holder in Contempt of Congress


United States Department of Justice Official Portrait
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President Obama Asserts Executive Privilege
Backing His Embattled Attorney General Erick Holder Over Botched Arms Smuggling Operation Fast and Furious
Today the House voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress with a vote of 255-67 on criminal contempt charges and 258-95 on civil contempt charges
Thursday, June 28, 2012
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CBS brings us this up to date report at 4:35pm CDT and it starts off like this... The House of Representatives voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress Thursday for failing to provide documents relating to the Fast and Furious gunwalking program… The House took two votes, one on criminal contempt charges, which passed 255-67. The criminal contempt of Congress is likely not to go anywhere as the Justice Department, which Holder heads, is the department responsible for opening a criminal investigation… The second charge, which passed 258-95, was a civil contempt charge, could move to federal court where it could take years to litigate. Though the action puts more pressure on the administration to abide by the subpoenas and provide requested documents… The Democratic Party was split on the action. Seventeen members voted with the Republicans to hold Holder in criminal contempt while just under two dozen voted to hold him in civil contempt. But most, led by the Congressional Black Caucus, walked off the floor to protest the vote, which they called "appalling."…
Read the full report at link below…
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More to come and that’s a certain!
AubreyJ………
ROMNEY2012
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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

1- Obama Asserts Executive Privilege Backing Embattled Attorney General Over Fast and Furious


United States Department of Justice Official Portrait
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President Obama Asserts Executive Privilege
Backing His Embattled Attorney General Erick Holder Over Botched Arms Smuggling Operation Fast and Furious
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
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How fast the news can change and in just a few hours too!
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I… like many others have been keeping up with all this news over the botched arms smuggling operation “Fast and Furious”. But to the best of my knowledge, I haven’t posted anything on all this mess and it has been going on for over a year now. That is until early this Wednesday morning when EVERYTHING CHANGED and sent the News Media into all kinds of a reporting frenzy.
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What set everyone off? President Obama did when he granted his Attorney General Eric Holder permission to assert executive privilege to withhold documents from the Republican-Led Congressional Committee. What a mess!!!
Here’s what started the chain of events this morning…
(Deputy Attorney General James Cole sent the following letter to Issa)

The Honorable Darrell E. Issa
Chairman
June 20, 2012
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Chairman:

    After you rejected the Department's recent offers of additional accommodations, you stated that the Committee intends to proceed with its scheduled meeting to consider a resolution citing the Attorney General for contempt for failing to comply with the Committee's subpoena of October 11, 2011. I write now to inform you that the President has asserted executive privilege over the relevant post-February 4, 2011, documents.

    We regret that we have arrived at this point, after the many steps we have taken to address the Committee's concerns and to accommodate the Committee's legitimate oversight interests regarding Operation Fast and Furious. Although we are deeply disappointed that the Committee appears intent on proceeding with a contempt vote, the Department remains willing to work with the Committee to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution of the outstanding issues…
Read Letter in full and more HERE
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* FOX News just posted this up-to-date report and it starts off like this… Rep. Darrell Issa pressed ahead with a committee vote Wednesday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, despite an eleventh-hour move by President Obama to assert executive privilege over the Fast and Furious documents at the heart of the dispute… The announcement touched off a caustic debate on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that lasted well into the afternoon, as Democrats accused Issa of prosecuting a "political witch hunt" and Republicans stepped up their criticism of Holder's "stonewalling" over the Fast and Furious probe. Even for Washington, the tone at the hearing was decidedly bitter and accusatory… The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was first informed of the president's decision to assert executive privilege in a letter Wednesday morning, shortly before the contempt vote was scheduled….
Read the full report at link below…
* New York Post Opinion Columnist Michael A. Walsh writes in part: …Issa surely feels like Charlie Brown charging the football, with Holder as Lucy. For over a year, he’s been trying to pin down the slippery AG, issuing one “last chance” after another, dragging Holder in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (on top of Senate appearances) and firing off angry letter after angry letter… Each time, Holder has scampered off, meeting Issa’s legitimate demands with contempt -- for the congressman, the Congress itself and the rule of law.
He tried it again yesterday after his offer was rebuffed, calling Issa’s demands “political gamesmanship” and cracking, “The ball’s in their court.” Um… no, Mr. Attorney General. The ball’s in your court…
Read Walsh’s take in full at link below…
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More to come and that’s a certain!
AubreyJ………
ROMNEY2012
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Thursday, March 29, 2012

President Obama Asks Congress To End Oil Company Subsidies - Congress VOTES - It Ain’t Happening!

White House video image grab
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Thursday, March 29, 2012
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    Around midmorning in the Rose Garden of the White House, President Obama urged Congress to vote against giving billions of dollars in tax breaks, also known as TAX Subsidies, to the largest Oil Companies in the United States.
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    Just how BAD is Obama’s line of thinking on this matter? Well… Just a short time after his little speech… his OWN Democratic controlled Senate voted the Bill -- DOWN! And with a Bipartisan Majority I might add. No other words needed on that! Lol… But, I can’t help myself…
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   Let’s go back to the President in the Rose Garden this morning. I have never seen so much misinformation, one taking credit for things they had NOTHING to do with, spoken from one President, at one time, in my LIFE! I mean, I had to laugh in total disbelief at what he was saying and expecting MOST Americans to buy into.
Let’s stop here, for now, and watch just what the man had to say this morning. Listen carefully to what he says on what HE HAS DONE for the Oil/Gas efforts of our Country during his run as President.
Lol… This guy is truly all KINDS of a Work of Art!
Read the FULL transcript HERE
-- Video courtesy of the White House --
    Now that you watched the video, let’s start with the following words by President Obama. …Now, I want to make clear, we all know that drilling for oil has to be a key part of our overall energy strategy.  We want U.S. oil companies to be doing well.So far so good… we ALL agree with that. Everyone but Obama… He’s anti oil/gas for god’s sake! And his past actions or non actions of… prove it. Can we say Canadian Pipeline for one?
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   We want them to succeed.Again… No he doesn’t.That’s why under my administration, we’ve opened up millions of acres of federal lands and waters to oil and gas production.” NO HE HASN’T! The previous Administrations of Bush and Clinton DID!We’ve quadrupled the number of operating oil rigs to a record high.”  NOOO! These things happened on Private or State lands that you, Mr. President have NO control over. You didn’t do CRAP! And you and your administration know it. Yet here you stand before the American people and say it so. What a TOOL!  In fact, all of the Drilling on Federal Lands you DO have control over has been CUT under your Administration by 40%. Not to mention that under your Administration that makes you as having the LOWEST number of onshore leases issued since 1984. Didn’t mention any of that… did ya? And don’t EVEN get us started on your Offshore NON activities. “We’ve added enough oil and gas pipeline to circle the Earth and then some.” We KNOW that one is a lie too!!! Again, past Administrations, YES… you, not so much. Mr. President, if anything your Administration has done everything it could to KILL such things! Again, I use the example of the Canadian Pipeline.  “And just yesterday, we announced the next step for potential new oil and gas exploration in the Atlantic.” Talk… talk… talk… but never ANY ACTION!!! You’re an empty suit, dude… All TALK…. NO ACTION! On these kinds of matters anyway.
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    “So the fact is, we’re producing more oil right now than we have in eight years, and we’re importing less of it as well.  For two years in a row, America has bought less oil from other countries than we produce here at home -– for the first time in over a decade.” AND NONE OF IT had a THING to do with YOU, Mr. President!
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    …“And keep in mind, we can’t just drill our way out of this problem.That’s just not so either. As I wrote last week in another post: By using these new technologies, [such as Fracking,] we have found many a MAJOR Natural Gas Field around this great country of ours, the Haynesville Shale being the largest. And with all this new Natural Gas coming on line and flooding the markets… well… prices fell like a rock in a pond, HITTING BOTTOM! … I think we can all remember that it wasn’t but just a few years back that Natural Gas was costing over $15.00 a thousand cubic feet! After the markets got flooded and after an extra warm winter this year… Natural Gas prices have bottomed out and as of the last time I looked, today… it had locked into a trading range for the last two weeks from between $2.20 and $2.40. (And Obama say’s Drill Baby Drill won’t do any good on Oil/Gasoline prices. What the heck does he think happened with NATURAL GAS? The NG Fairy appeared and prices just, DROPPED!!!)As I said, oil production here in the United States is doing very well, and it's been doing well even as gas prices are going up.I say drill like hell and flood the Oil Markets, as we have seen with Natural Gas. And just see what happens. Oil/Gas prices would fall like a bolder in a pond with this one… along with groceries and so on, and so on…  Not to be left out… 100’s of thousands of new JOBS! “Well, the reason is because we use more than 20 percent of the world’s oil but we only have 2 percent of the world’s known oil reserves.All true but the KEY words Obama uses are… 2% of the KNOWN OIL RESERVES. Again, True… But that is very misleading and overlooking all the newly discovered, yet not produced oil and gas fields, onshore and off, that we have as of yet developed. And again… this is all because of all the restrictions and just FLAT OUT not being allowed by the Obama Administration. “And that means we could drill every drop of American oil tomorrow but we’d still have to buy oil from other countries to make up the difference.  We’d still have to depend on other countries to meet our energy needs.  And because it’s a world market, the fact that we’re doing more here in the United States doesn’t necessarily help us because even U.S. oil companies they’re selling that oil on a worldwide market. They’re not keeping it just for us.  And that means that if there’s rising demand around the world then the prices are going to up.” Give us a break man! REALLY!!!
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   …“I want us to control our own destiny.  I want us to forge our own future.  And that’s why, as long as I’m President, America is going to pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy, which means we will continue developing our oil and gas resources in a robust and responsible way.  But it also means that we’re going to keep developing more advanced homegrown biofuels, the kinds that are already powering truck fleets across America. 

    We’re going to keep investing in clean energy like the wind power and solar power that’s already lighting thousands of homes and creating thousands of jobs.REALLY!!! Most every Green Energy Company Obama has invested our hard earned tax money into… and we are talking many a Billions of dollars of it… have gone belly-up or in a heap of trouble right now. (Read more at my earlier Post -- Fracking… GOOD! Obama’s Energy Policies… Freaking BAD man!!!)
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    Yeah… we GOT to get this man out of office this November… He’s KILLING US!
        AubreyJ.........
            ROMNEY2012
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Friday, March 16, 2012

#38- AubreyJ’s Energy Update Report - Friday, March 16, 2012

AubreyJ’s Energy Update Report
Jindal Rips Obama over Rising Gas Prices - Little Company in Texas, ALONE… puts forward more promising jobs than any of President Obama’s Green Energy Companies
Friday, March 16th, 2012
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-- Wells of Past -1967 --
Grandfather’s Farm, Red Shute Plantation
Photo credit: AubreyJ
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The following taken from the Wikipedia.org website
And just to refresh everyone’s memory…

The Haynesville Shale is an important shale-gas resource play in East Texas and Louisiana. Estimated recoverable reserves are as much as 60 Tcf, with each well producing on the average of 6.5 Bcf.
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The Haynesville Shale came into prominence in 2008 as a potentially major shale gas resource. Producing natural gas from the Haynesville Shale involves drilling wells from 10,000 feet (3,000 m) and to 13,000 feet (4,000 m) deep. The formation is deeper in areas nearer the Gulf of Mexico.
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The Haynesville Shale has been estimated to be the largest natural gas field in the contiguous 48 states with an estimated 250 trillion cubic feet (7.1×1012 m3) of recoverable gas. Production has boomed since late March 2008, creating a number of new millionaires in the Shreveport, Louisiana region. (Lol… wish I was ONE of them TOO!)
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Following taken from the AskChesapeake.com website
Chesapeake Responds to the Rolling Stone Story
Friday, March 2, 2012
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    Dear Fellow CHK Employees and Friends:
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    By now, some of you may have heard about or read the Rolling Stone magazine article released this week entitled “The Big Fracking Bubble: The Scam Behind the Gas Boom.” As our company’s VP with responsibility for communications, I think it's important that you know more about the events and activities that led to this article. Also, I have included below our specific responses to the portions of the article that were most egregious in their misrepresentations or inaccuracies of our company and industry.
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    When we were first contacted by Rolling Stone and looked at the writer’s prior work, blog posts, and tweets, we figured we’d never get a fair shake and suggested he talk to other industry groups to get a perspective on natural gas. But when he declared his intention to write a story focused on our company and Aubrey – with or without our cooperation – we decided that providing the full transparency that the media and our critics so often demand from our industry would potentially result in a more honest and fact-based story. Although our expectations for honesty and fairness were quite low, the writer failed to reach even that low bar.
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    Despite giving the writer access to our rig locations and briefings from senior executives over three days, Rolling Stone has published a story that recycles the same old debunked theories of a few short-positioned analysts, activist academics and publicity-seeking litigants that have mischaracterized our company and our industry for the past five years.
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    There is little new in this story and much that is either half true or just flat wrong…
Read the rest HERE
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* OK then… Here’s an article I just HAD to share with ya! Would you believe…? JOBS… JOBS… JOBS… YES -- This LITTLE Company in Texas, ALONE… has put forward more promising jobs than any of President Obama’s Green Energy Companies have in the last 3 plus years. And this small Texas Company has had little to NO help from the Obama Administration! So… with that said… be sure click out the following article I ran across Thursday at the BizJournals.com website. It goes in part like this… The Eagle Ford Shale is a geologic formation that spans across 24 South Texas counties that is generating a considerable amount of interest from oil and gas producers… Companies like Howard are making significant investments in pipeline assets to transport the crude oil or natural gas to market… San Antonio-based Howard is an independent, energy services company. Howard employs more than 800 people in South Texas
(Come ON OBAMA/DEMS… Wakeup and allow the Canadian Keystone Pipeline -- Would Ya!!!)
Read this article in full at link below…
- The full announcement can be found at the following link below…
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* While we are on Pipelines… Here are some FUN FACTS to slap Obama in the face with from my GREAT State of Louisiana!
Taken from the Louisiana.gov website
Department of Natural Resources Office Of Conservation
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Pipeline Operations
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    The State of Louisiana has been regulating the operations of intrastate natural gas transporters since 1974. At that time there were only 15 intrastate transporter companies, whereas we have had as many as 100 and today there are almost 75. The Pipeline Operations Section regulates the construction, acquisition, abandonment and interconnection of natural gas pipelines, as well as, the transportation and use of natural gas supplies.
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Louisiana Pipeline to the Nation
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    Louisiana's integrated system of pipelines is an important factor in its economy. The State has close to 50,000 miles of pipelines. [SAY it isn’t SOOO!]
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    This integrated system of pipelines criss-cross very major highway, railroad and navigable waterway in Louisiana. The greatest pipeline mileage is in the 19 parishes located on or near the Gulf of Mexico which is nearest to the major oil and gas production areas.
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    The Louisiana natural gas market and pipeline matrix has experienced tremendous growth in the last 40 years. Our major universities and other commercial users now purchase natural gas on the open market. Many of our cities and towns belong to the Louisiana Municipal Gas Purchasing Authority that buys gas for its members on a monthly basis.
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    The Louisiana intrastate natural gas pipeline system has provided natural gas reserves to most all parts of the nation through interconnections with interstate pipelines. With the introduction of the "Henry Hub", our pipelines can provide natural gas to almost anyone in the United States.

Programs:   Pipeline Operations
* OK then… Let’s change gears here for a bit with the following report I ran across Thursday afternoon at Politico.com. It starts off like this… President Barack Obama took the bully pulpit on Thursday as he assailed Republicans for suggesting they can cut gas prices even as he can’t, and for dismissing the development of alternative sources of energy…
Read the rest at link below…
Watch the video HERE
* Also from Politico.com Thursday… Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal on Wednesday ripped President Barack Obama over rising gas prices and said any of the Republican 2012 candidates will do “so much better” if elected to the White House… “The reality is gasoline prices have doubled under this president, highest prices for oil and gasoline in 150 years. People used to think it was because of incompetence from Obama administration on energy… I think it’s because of ideology. They’re pursuing a radical environmental ideology,” Jindal said on “Fox & Friends.”…
Read the full report at link below…
Watch the video HERE
* Washington Times had this report posted up on their website Thursday evening and it starts off like this… Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the Obama administration is poised to deal a major blow to U.S. oil and natural gas, a leading industry group charged Thursday… Domestic production of both fuels could plummet if proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations, designed to limit emissions from well sites, go into effect later this year, according to an extensive new study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute… 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 API. Total gas production would decrease by about 11 percent, while domestic oil production could fall by as much as 37 percent, the report says…
Read this report in full at link below…
* Charles Krauthammer had a GREAT read in The Washington Post Thursday evening and it goes in part like this. …the event that drove home the extent of Obama’s antipathy to nearby, abundant, available oil was his veto of the Keystone pipeline, after the most extensive environmental vetting of any pipeline in U.S. history. It gave the game away because the case for Keystone is so obvious and overwhelming. Vetoing it gratuitously prolongs our dependence on outside powers, kills thousands of shovel-ready jobs, forfeits a major strategic resource to China, damages relations with our closest ally, and sends billions of oil dollars to Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin and already obscenely wealthy sheiks… Obama boasts that, on his watch, production is up and imports down. True, but truly deceptive. These increases have occurred in spite of his restrictive policies. They are the result of Clinton- and Bush-era permitting. This has been accompanied by a gold rush of natural gas production resulting from new fracking technology that has nothing at all to do with Obama[Unless we take into account Obama’s NEW Environmental Protection Agency Regulations in the making that will eventually ruin even these gains over the last so many years.]
Read the full article by Charles at link below…
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** Mitt Romney on Energy **
Taken from his Official Campaign website
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What’s at Stake
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Producing more domestic energy would create good jobs and bolster local economies in a wide variety of energy-producing regions that effectively “export” their product to the rest of the country. While countless jobs are engaged in the actual energy-production process, they are a small fraction of the full workforce that benefits. For instance, before the first barrel of oil is pumped out of the ground, entire industries are hard at work creating the equipment and providing the services used in drilling, production, and the long chain of supporting industries that brings energy from inside the earth to the consumer.
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The ripple effects into the non-energy sectors of the economy are commensurately important. If instead of sending hundreds of billions of dollars overseas we can send them to our own energy-rich centers, the nation as a whole will experience the economic benefits that we currently see other countries enjoying at our expense.
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Obama’s Failure
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Unfortunately, the first three years of the Obama administration have witnessed energy and environmental policies that have stifled the domestic energy sector. In thrall to the environmentalist lobby and its dogmas, the President and the regulatory bodies under his control have taken measures to limit energy exploration and restrict development in ways that sap economic performance, curtail growth, and kill jobs.
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The Obama administration’s energy policy has been simply incoherent. For instance, it has blocked off-shore drilling in U.S. waters while applauding increased drilling off the coast of Brazil. Similarly, it has blocked construction of a pipeline that would bring Canadian oil to the United States, knowing full well that the result would be Canadian oil flowing to China instead. And it has pursued numerous regulations that would drive up energy prices while destroying millions of jobs.
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As the Obama administration wages war against oil and coal, it has been spending billions of dollars on alternative energy forms and touting its creation of “green” jobs. But it seems to be operating more on faith than on fact-based economic calculation. The “green” technologies are typically far too expensive to compete in the marketplace, and studies have shown that for every “green” job created there are actually more jobs destroyed. Unsurprisingly, this costly government investment has failed to create an economic boom.
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Mitt’s Plan
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As president, Mitt Romney will make every effort to safeguard the environment, but he will be mindful at every step of also protecting the jobs of American workers. This will require putting conservative principles into action.
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Significant Regulatory Reform
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The first step will be a rational and streamlined approach to regulation, which would facilitate rapid progress in the development of our domestic reserves of oil and natural gas and allow for further investment in nuclear power.
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- Establish fixed timetables for all resource development approvals
- Create one-stop shop to streamline permitting process for approval of common activities
- Implement fast-track procedures for companies with established safety records to conduct pre-approved activities in pre-approved areas
- Ensure that environmental laws properly account for cost in regulatory process
- Amend Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide from its purview
- Expand NRC capabilities for approval of additional nuclear reactor designs
- Streamline NRC processes to ensure that licensing decisions for reactors on or adjacent to approved sites, using approved designs, are complete within two years
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Increasing Production
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The United States is blessed with a cornucopia of carbon-based energy resources. Developing them has been a pathway to prosperity for the nation in the past and offers similar promise for the future.
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- Conduct comprehensive survey of America’s energy reserves
- Open America’s energy reserves for development
- Expand opportunities for U.S. resource developers to forge partnerships with neighboring countries
- Support construction of pipelines to bring Canadian oil to the United States
- Prevent overregulation of shale gas development and extraction
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Research and Development
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Government has a role to play in innovation in the energy industry. History shows that the United States has moved forward in astonishing ways thanks to national investment in basic research and advanced technology. However, we should not be in the business of steering investment toward particular politically favored approaches. That is a recipe for both time and money wasted on projects that do not bring us dividends. The failure of windmills and solar plants to become economically viable or make a significant contribution to our energy supply is a prime example.
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- Concentrate alternative energy funding on basic research
- Utilize long-term, apolitical funding mechanisms like ARPA-E for basic research
Taken from Mitt’s Official Campaign Website - MittRomney.com
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Now… even though I’m no longer a supporter of Newt for President… I will ALWAYS support most of his Ideas… Especially on Energy!
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$2.50 per Gallon Gasoline, Energy Independence and Jobs -- An Address by Newt Gingrich
(And well worth the watch)
In above video, Newt explains why $2.50 gasoline can be achieved with the right policies, and how inexpensive energy will fuel the economy and improve our national security. This video is just 30 minutes long.
This video posted on YouTube by ngingrich
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AubreyJ.........
Romney2012
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