Osama's real energy policy

Should come as no surprise - he warned us about it, if we were listening...

Originally published 05:49 p.m., March 9, 2010, updated 10:43 p.m., March 9, 2010

EDITORIAL: Obama's a pain at the pump

Get ready to pay a lot more than $3 a gallon to fill up your car during peak driving periods this spring and summer. More pain at the pump is the inevitable result of the Obama administration's carrot-and-stick approach to dealing with America's energy woes.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last week announced new leases for offshore oil and gas drilling, which will take effect in 2012. While news reports characterized the decision as a bold response to the nation's energy needs, reality is quite to the contrary.

Within a month of taking office in 2009, Mr. Salazar froze drilling leases already approved by the outgoing George W. Bush administration. Then he imposed a six-month public comment period to precede his decision on whether to allow new drilling. When the comment period ended in September, Interior suppressed the results.

American Solutions, a plucky grass-roots organization founded to pressure Washington to break policy gridlock, filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain the public comment tally. Given that beleaguered drivers were shelling out more than $4 a gallon for gas in late 2008, their discovery was not surprising: The comments, totaling 530,000, favored drilling by a margin of 2 to 1. Even now, six months after the public comment period ended, Interior - apparently displeased with the results - still has not published the public reaction.

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