Citizens for Term Limits

Omnibus Spending Bill Forbids Domestic Oil Shale Development

By Rense Johnson, Chairman, Citizens for Term Limits

Already posted on this website is our article titled Our Nation’s Leaders are Taking us Down the Road to Energy Suicide, It condemns the anti-energy policies at the highest presidential levels of our government. In it I borrowed extensively from Ben Liberman of the Heritage Foundation.

Now we learn, again from a Heritage Foundation source—Nick Loris—about deleterious language that has been added to the so-called Omnibus Bill. That language is excerpted as follows:

“None of the funds made available by this Act shall be used to prepare or publish final regulations regarding a commercial leasing program for oil shale resources on public lands pursuant to section 369(d) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-58) or to conduct an oil shale lease sale pursuant to subsection 369(e) of such Act.[3]

“Without these regulations in place, these lands will not be able to be leased and/or developed for exploration of oil shale production. The technology to collect and refine oil shale is developing at a rapid pace, and private companies are willing to invest in it. Shell Oil commenced a research and development project on oil shale 30 years ago and continues to invest a considerable portion of its own revenue into commercializing the shale.”

By prohibiting domestic oil shale development, the above language in effect adds the instructions “Do not resuscitate” to the energy suicide attempt, “I am fairly certain that not a single member of either chamber of Congress, or anyone else for that matter, has read it in its entirety.” —U. S. Senator Tom Coburn, 12-18-07 A bill which no one has read in its entirety provides is an atmosphere in which all kinds of mischief can be wrought, and in at least this one instance was.

We can attribute no positive motive to the author of the insertion of such language. The act of inserting the anti-energy language in this bill could appropriately be called treasonous in these crucial times, where energy independence is now frustrated by our Congress as well as the executive branch of government, thus permitting this anti-energy posture to become de facto national policy.

This is one hundred eighty degrees off course and totally contrary to our national interest.

How devastating that our energy future should be done in from within. For shame!

We can only hope that the upcoming election will bring us a better informed and/or advised president, as well as a congressional housecleaning.

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