The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

Back on the 17th of this month, I said the following regarding the low demand on Green products, specifically hybrid cars:

“I’ve been saying this over and over again on this site. The Green movement is a complete joke. Why? Because there is no real demand out there on Main street for “Green” products unless it is priced competitively.

The government is going to figure out real quick that the only way they can increase the sales on Green products like hybrid cars is to tax the heck out of all other options.”

When gas reached $4 a gallon, it forced people to do things like cut down on travel, drive only one car, carpool, and invest in hybrid vehicles. Today, with gas prices well below $4, hybrids have become very difficult to sell. That is how supply and demand works.

While Republicans in the House voted twice to lift the ban, the Senate last year rejected the plan. Bush threw his weight behind it, but by that time it was too late.

Then came Obama~

8/3/08

Obama said Friday that he would be willing to compromise on his position against offshore oil drilling if it were part of a more overarching strategy to lower energy costs.

“My interest is in making sure we’ve got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices,” Obama told The Palm Beach Post early into a two-day swing through Florida. (more…)

Later on (same article)…

But Friday, Obama admitted that something is better than nothing and praised a bipartisan energy plan from the Senate that combines alternative energy innovation, financial, nuclear energy and drilling proposals.

Here are those taxes I talked about~

But Salazar, in a conference call with reporters Monday, defended proposals to end a manufacturers’ tax break for oil companies and higher royalties on oil pumped from federal waters. He said the higher taxes and royalties are simply a matter of fairness. (more…)

These taxes and fees certainly do not help the falling oil rig count here in the US (Down by 46% since last year).

So now big brother has blocked off another 2 million acres of oil-rich land here in the US.
Another little detail buried deep in the stimulus bill.

From ibdeditorials.com

Last Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed on a 285-148 vote the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (S.22), which confirms our theory that no good comes from legislation labeled “comprehensive” or “omnibus.”

S.22 is a smorgasbord of 160 bills totaling more than 1,300 pages and, no, we’re not sure how many who voted for it actually read it. A stimulus bill it is not, for it locks up an additional 2 million acres to the 107 million acres of federally owned wilderness areas. That total is more than the area of Montana and Wyoming combined.

Speaking of Wyoming, 1.1 million of these newly restricted acres are in that state. This bill, which also provides $1 billion for a water project designed to save 500 salmon in California, takes about 8.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 300 million barrels of oil out of production in that state, according to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The energy resources walled off by this bill would nearly match the annual production levels of our two natural gas production states — Texas and Alaska. As Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., points out: “We are not suffering from a lack of wilderness areas in the United States. According to the Census Bureau, we have 106 million acres of developed land and 107 million acres of (officially declared) wilderness land.”

[...]

Some of these parcels are in or near the Green River Formation, an oil-rich region in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming that’s been called the “Persia of the West.”

This formation has the largest known oil shale deposits in the world, holding from 1.5 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels of crude. The Energy Department’s Argonne National Laboratory indicates 800 billion of these barrels are recoverable with current technology.

In comparison with Saudi Arabia’s oil resources, America’s recoverable oil shale resources are nearly three times as large, according to a 2008 report by the Utah Mining Association. As the report notes, the West’s oil shale provides America with the “potential to be completely energy self-sufficient with no demands on external sources.” (more…)

So in short, the government is using these land grabs to out flank oil companies here in the states. This will in no doubt INCREASE our dependency on foreign oil and force the consumer to go Green. With the government now in control of GM, it now has control of how these cars are made and how they will be fueled in the future.

The Saudis no doubt have a large hook on the White House. Otherwise, we would have been drilling our own oil.

If you think this is all about saving some trees, you are completely out to lunch.