The Daily News Record: Editorial Opinion
Harrisonburg, Virginia
http://www.dailynews-record.com/opinion_details.php?AID=56846&CHID=36
Gulf Lull Costing Big
Speaking of “distractions,” President Barack Obama’s call for a commission — last resort of leaders short on resolution and remedy — to probe the effects of “speculation” on the oil market definitely qualifies. It offers “distraction,” after all, from the stupefying pall enveloping the domestic oil industry as a result of the president’s energy policies — if one can call a drilling moratorium a policy — or lack thereof.
As the folks at the National Center for Policy Analysis clearly hint, disastrous is hardly the word for what passes for energy policy. As we’ve noted in the past, local and state economies in the Gulf region have taken a profound hit. But less known, perhaps, is the diminished flow of revenue to federal coffers.
Inactivity — namely a lack of drilling lease sales — ultimately translates to fewer royalties, fewer lease bids, and fewer rent payments. NCPA analysts peg these lossesat $4.7 million a day since the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
So, not only is this nation less actively engaged in energy exploration — at a time when said exploration should be a priority — but it’s also forfeiting beaucoup revenue in the process. But “speculation”? We’ll gush dollars studying that to death. Unbelievable.