Study: Alaska Could Be Eighth Largest Oil Producer

[Spiraling Leopard]

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7796458/study_alaska_could_be_eighth_largest.html?cat=9

A new study suggests that if the outer continental shelf of Alaska were to be opened up for oil and gas drilling, the state of Alaska would become the eighth largest producer of oil, exceeding Nigeria, Libya, Russia,
 and Norway.

According to the Cyber News Service:

"The report -- by the consulting firm Northern Economics and the University of Alaska-Anchorage's Institute of Social and Economic Research -- says that developing Alaska's OCS could produce almost 10 billion barrels of oil and 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, create around 55,000 new jobs and produce $145 billion in new payroll nationally, generating a total of $193 billion in government revenue through the year 2057."

The study places in stark relief a fatal flaw in Obama administration energy policy. The Obama administration has pursued an active policy of discouraging the domestic production of fossil fuels while encouraging the development of what it considered more acceptable forms of energy product, primarily solar and wind.

The problem is that most people use fossil fuels for energy, whether it is gasoline for their cars, aviation fuel for aircraft, home heating oil in northern states, and natural gas almost everywhere. Solar and wind technologies are largely dependent on government subsidies. "Green" technologies are, in any case, not mature enough yet to take on a much greater share of energy production, even with the cost of fossil fuels kept artificially high.

Recent events in the Middle East have shown the folly of Obama administration energy policies as well. With the production of domestic fossil fuels stymied and with alternate energy sources still in the future, more and more of America's energy needs are satisfied with foreign sources. That is well and good when those sources are Canada or Brazil, two countries with much more sensible energy policies. But much of America's oil and gas still comes from the politically volatile Middle East.