It’s rare when a politician keeps a promise, but President Obama has. During the 2008 campaign, he promised on numerous occasions to raise energy prices. He has certainly kept that promise. Gas was around a-buck-eighty in January, 2008. During my round trip from Maryland to Texas earlier this month, I paid an average of $3.28.
It certainly seems that he is working to make sure that promise stays kept. For example, consider the administration’s delays in approvals for the Keystone XL pipeline which would bring Canadian oil to U. S. refineries, providing us with an on-shore source of energy that we could purchase from a country that doesn’t fund terrorists.
The Canadians are going to develop their oil shale deposits, and they will have no trouble selling the oil on the world market. Indeed, if we don’t move soon, construction will begin on a pipeline to the Pacific coast in British Columbia where Chinese tankers can call. Building that pipeline will be a significant engineering challenge, but it will happen if that’s how the oil can move to the world market. It’s less likely to happen if the more cost-effective Keystone XL line is built.
Regime change in 2013 may come soon enough to save Keystone XL. We can hope for a change.