Oil Drilling Will Not Reduce Gas Prices

Intellectual garbage clean-up of Charlie Dent press releases outsourced to Greg Palmer:

First, we disagree with him on the substance of his attack – if energy prices are high and thats hindering job creation, we’re all for releasing some of the SPR. Job creation is Job 1, to modify an old Ford slogan.

But more importantly, good ole’ Charlie voted FOR a very similar measure during the Bush Administration when oil prices were sky high. Back in 2008, HR 6022 instructed the Secretaries of the Interior and Energy to stop buying oil for the petroleum reserves for the express reason that energy prices were too high.

Vote to pass a bill that suspends acquisition by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Energy for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until December 31, 2008 unless the average price of petroleum falls below $75 per barrel for the most recent 90-day period.

Mr. Dent votes Aye. As usual, Charlie’s blowing with the wind.

Rich Wilkins weighs in here.

I will add that there is no – repeat, no – option to lower oil prices through increased oil drilling in America. This is pure fantasy. Even if we let Charlie Dent and his campaign contributors go buck-wild and put a drill bit through the head of every baby seal in the land, that would knock 3 cents off oil prices between now and 2030.

Fossil fuels are a dead end. Rather than doubling down on oil, we need to be laying the groundwork to free ourselves from it altogether.