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"This is where leadership on the part of government officials would be helpful, to fend off the wackos and declare that it is in the interest of our national security to move forward on domestic energy production and infrastructure, and tell the obstructionists and wackos to stuff it."

Unfortunately, the leadership comes from the people. And we the people (in general not in particular) are ignorant when it comes to energy. I like you am amazed what the environmental groups have done to the domestic energy business. The east coast is short transportation capacity like you said. Natural gas can shoot up easily to $50/dth. Then there is much whining, pointing of fingers and political threats but nothing is done to solve the problem. It is interesting that the international LNG market is going to be based on Henry Hub pricing which in turn reflects east coast supply and transportation shortages, i.e. volatility that makes speculators so very happy.

Florida refuses to allow production. But Castro will be drilling happily right off the coast. (LOL, isn’t that a kicker?) We have natural coal gas in eastern Wyoming that is bogged down by environmentalists. Western Wyoming gas can only get to California and Texas due to bottlenecks. But take heart producers and pipelines are coming together trying to build at least one west to east natural gas pipeline. It will get as far as Ohio. After that it hits the banana (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anybody) republics.

The nation is short refining capacity (haven’t built a new refinery in decades and it takes seven years just to get a permit) yet each state legislates its own boutique blend. We the people elect our state politicians who write these ridiculous laws. Can't wait until May 5th when gas prices will shoot up again due to the enactment of an environmental policy. Independent gas stations are disappearing left and right, again mainly due to environmental policies, yet no one seems to notice. Funny how both state and national politicians haven’t volunteered to lessen the EPA standards this summer despite the oil shock?

Still we have pandering idiots like O'Reilly mouthing off on energy policy and BIG BAD OIL COMPANIES. It would be funny if it weren't so costly. The general population thinks building a pipeline from Alaska to Chicago would take just a year or so. They don't take into account the environmental studies, then the environmental lawsuits, then the political lawsuits on behalf of the "Native People", then the permitting, etc. Very few people take into account the purchase of the steel piping. They don’t realize that steel mills are at max capacity and that these pipes need special grade steel that has to be ordered in advance. Most people don't understand the risk the Big Bad Oil Companies take when building production and transport facilities. It costs tens of billions of dollars BEFORE any money is made. Sad to say the risk is as high as is the ignorance of the average Congressman. Here is another interesting fact. Oil companies make about $0.09/gallon of gas where as the governments make on average $0.45/gallon.

Intervenors and special interest groups have learned to game the system by obstruction and delays. They know that any project, be it a power plant, refinery, airport, transmission line, whatever, can be killed if you stretch out the completion time to the point where it becomes economically non-viable. This is where we have to change the system. Streamline the process. Give people their say at some point but then say that's it, no more unreasonable obstruction and delay. This business of filing endless lawsuits and legal challenges has got to stop. We're cutting our own throats if we don't stop it.

I see no reason why Castro can drill for oil 90 miles from the Florida coast yet we have idiots in this country who want to stop our own people from exploring our own resources 200 miles from the coast. That makes absolutely no sense to me. We're favoring our enemies over our own people.