Washington, DC – In response to President Obama’s address to the nation, Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research issued the following statement:
“There is not one thing in the President’s stated plans from the address this evening that will cap, contain or expedite the cleanup of oil along the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately, this President and his allies on Capitol Hill are using a rare and tragic accident as a means to advance their political and anti-energy agenda on behalf of their special interest friends.
“Rushing to place blame, point fingers and threaten new regulations is not constructive – regardless of the crisis. It is also not new or original. Following the Exxon-Valdez tanker accident in 1989, Congress responded with the Oil Pollution Act. And while the outrage was warranted then, as it is now, Congress deliberated for fifteen months on that piece of legislation. In fact, OPA 1990 was actually introduced prior to the accident in Prince William Sound.
“Using this accident to advance a national energy tax in the form of cap-and-trade – as President Obama made clear is his intent – shows that this administration is living up to the motto of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, “never allow a crisis to go to waste… they are opportunities to do big things.” We know from day one that this Administration has declared war on affordable energy, particularly coal and oil. That they have chosen this incident to halt energy production in this country and take yet another run at a national energy tax is unfortunate and politics at its worst.”
The Institute for Energy Research (IER) is a not-for-profit organization that conducts intensive research and analysis on the functions, operations, and government regulation of global energy markets. IER maintains that freely-functioning energy markets provide the most efficient and effective solutions to today’s global energy and environmental challenges and, as such, are critical to the well-being of individuals and society.
