Citing continued unemployment and the rising cost of goods across the U.S., including continued high gasoline prices, President Obama on Saturday declared plans to increase oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and in Alaska.
"Without a doubt, one of the biggest burdens over the last few months has been the price of Gasoline," Obama said, before outlining some of the ideas for increasing domestic oil production. He said that "we should make sure that no one is taking advantage of consumers at the pump," and that a task force was working to weed out "fraud and manipulation in the markets." This coincides with the White House's focus on "traders and speculators" as it looks at the high cost of gas.
"Second," Obama said, "we should increase safe and responsible oil production here at home," with an emphasis on environmentally responsible production. "To do this," he said, "I'm instructing the Department of the Interior to conduct annual lease sales in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve, while protecting sensitive areas."
Obama also emphasized safety and streamlining of the lease process, saying that he's "establishing a new team to coordinate work on Alaska drilling permits," in order to expedite the process.
Finally, Obama followed up on last week's hearings on Capitol Hill in which Democratic lawmakers spoke with oil company executives about the multibillion dollar taxpayer subsidies that oil companies enjoy, even as the five companies represented at the hearings -- Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon -- announced combined profits of more than $35 billion last quarter.
"This isn't fair," Obama said in reference to the continued subsidies. "It makes no sense."
Slate reports that Obama's announcement was merely a backing to legislation already in motion from Congress, and a reflection of his policy prior to last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Meanwhile, Alaska Sens. Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski support the new push for offshore oil leases in Alaska waters.
"I've been strongly critical of this Administration's policies on domestic production," Murkowski said in a press release, "but today I want to give credit to the President. I've had the opportunity to talk directly with him regarding the importance of Alaska's oil reserves and the need to increase safe and responsible oil production here at home. Permitting is the single greatest obstacle to domestic production and the President's establishment of a new team to coordinate work on Alaska drilling permits is a positive development, as is the extension of leases in the Gulf of Mexico and Chukchi Sea."
Begich agreed, saying that "I consider the President's address today a positive step forward and a commitment that he is ready to put words into action."
Murkowski told Alaska Dispatch in February that she'd met with President Obama privately to discuss speeding up oil development in her home state, and that the president seemed open to the possibility, even at that time.
"The commitment he gave was one of willingness to work with Alaska to advance some of these initiatives," Murkowski said then. "He could have said, 'Look, I just think exploration in the Arctic is too risky.' He did not go there."
Contact Ben Anderson at ben(at)alaskadispatch.com.