IER: "Mr. President, Stop Misleading the American People"

Release:

WASHINGTON- In today’s press conference, the President boasted of record high domestic oil production.  Once again, President Obama is spinning the facts in order to deflect the blame for the rising price at the pump.  In response, Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, issued the following statements:
“Either President Obama is being misinformed by his energy advisors, or he is misleading the American public.  He continues to assert that 'the U.S. has only 2% of the world’s oil' when, according to the Congressional Research Service, the U.S. has at least 17% of the world’s oil.”


“In a recent report, CRS said that the U.S. has 19.1 billion barrels of proven reserves, which is the number President Obama cites as 2% of the world’s oil.  CRS, however, showed that between our proven reserves and oil predicted to be found, there is likely to be a combined 164.1 billion barrels, or 8.5 times as much as the president alleges.  And this figure doesn’t include oil shale, which has recoverable reserves of 1 trillion barrels, according to DOE.  Mr. President – let people look and they shall find.”

“The President’s anti-energy policies are a man-made disaster.  Try as he may to deflect responsibility away from his own policies, President Obama can’t escape from the simple fact that the actions of his administration have dramatically slowed down domestic energy production.  As a consequence, his policies are directly responsible for increasing gas prices.”
“In 2007, an analysis from the federal government’s Energy Information Agency (EIA) predicted that domestic offshore production would be 717.9 million barrels in 2010.  As a result of the Obama Administration’s policies, it was 600 million.  Likewise, the projected onshore production was 132.9 million barrels.  Under Obama, it was only 114 million.”

“Under President Obama’s policies, federal land and water production in 2010 was 136.8 million barrels less than was predicted in 2007, or a 16% drop from what was expected.”

“Oil production on federal lands is expected to dramatically decrease as a consequence of President Obama’s anti-energy policies.  In 2011, EIA estimates that oil production in the federal Gulf of Mexico will fall by 15 percent.  In 2012, it will fall by 26 percent from the 2010 production high water mark.  In contrast, production continues to increase on the state and private lands that are – at least for now – largely unencumbered by this administration’s anti-energy policies.”

“President Obama talks about increasing energy production in places like Alaska, and yet his own EPA revoked a permit that was already granted for offshore leases there.  President Obama needs to stop his war on affordable energy.  While he plays games with production numbers, the American people are suffering.  President Obama should spend less time spinning the facts at press conferences and more time reviewing and reversing his disastrous policies.”