High gas prices and the wisdom of drilling for oil

UPI ^ | 3/15/2012 | PETER MORICI

[tobyhill]

Gasoline prices are zooming past $4 a gallon and the United States is hardly freer from the grip of imported oil or closer to robust economic recovery. With his approval ratings dropping precipitously, U.S. President Barack Obama is blaming speculators and investigating fraud and at the pump when this mess is the direct result of failed federal energy policies.

By word and deed, the Obama administration has sought to limit off-shore oil exploration and development and hasten the commercial viability of solar, wind and alternative vehicle technologies.

All this is based on two erroneous but strongly held beliefs among liberal policymakers, academics and pundits -- increasing oil U.S. production would do little to lower U.S. gas prices and but for the vested interests of multinational oil companies, mankind would have long ago harnessed renewable energy sources and freed itself freed itself from the sin of burning hydrocarbons.