Newt Gingrich - $2.50 a Gallon: Why Obama Is Wrong and Cheap Gas Is Possible

$2.50

A Gallon

Why Obama Is Wrong and

Cheap Gas Is Possible Now

Newt Gingrich

with Vince Haley

Copyright 2012 by Newt Gingrich

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, broad cast, or on a website.

First ebook edition 2012

eISBN 978-1-62157-009-7

The Library of Congress has cataloged the paperback edition as follows:

Gingrich, Newt.

$2.50 A Gallon: W hy Obama Is Wrong and Cheap Gas Is Possible Now /

ISBN 978-1-62157-005-9 (paperback)

Newt Gingrich; with Vince Haley. -- [New ed.]

p. cm.

Previously published under title: Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Petroleum industry and trade--Government policy--United States. 2.

Renewable energy sources--United States. 3. Energy policy--United

States. I. Haley, Vince. II. Title. III. Title: 2 dollars and 50 cents

a gallon. IV. Title: Two dollars and fifty cents a gallon.

HD9566.G56 2012

333.8230973--dc23

2012016301

Published in the United States by

Regnery Publishing, Inc.

One Massachusetts Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20001

www.Regnery.com

Originally published as Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less in 2008, ISBN 978-1-59698-576-6

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Books are available in quantity for promotional or premium use. Write to Director of Special Sales, Regnery Publishing, Inc., One Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001, for information on discounts and terms or call (202) 216-0600.

Distributed to the trade by

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This book is dedicated to every American
whose family finances are strained
or whose job is threatened
by an absolutely unnecessary energy crisis.

Contents

Introduction

WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK

A merica is threatened by a crisis of our own makingor to be exact, the governments making.

We are suffering from an artificial energy crisis that is also a dangerous national security crisisartificial, because America is gifted with enormous reserves of energy; dangerous, because it makes us vulnerable to unreliable and potentially hostile countries.

With gas prices skyrocketing, electricity costs rising, and the American people rightly outraged at our dependence on foreign oil, President Obama has shown a complete failure of leadershiphe talks without taking action while hoping the topic changes. As Americans sought immediate relief, he told us there were no quick fixes and no silver bullets. As we learned of new oil discoveries in America, giving us some of the largest supplies of oil anywhere, he dismissed their significance, insisting we were stuck buying from foreign producers. And as we ascertained that our country has the most diverse energy resources on earth, he told us the best solution was to wait for algae alternatives and electric cars that are years away.

To state the obvious, Americas current energy policy is a disasterand our government isnt doing anything to change it. Its time for we the people to act.

Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less

In 2008, when I wrote the first edition of this book, Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less , Americans were enduring a similar and equally unnecessary energy crisis. Gas prices of $4 a gallon had alerted Americans to the damage caused by decades of left-wing hostility to American energy. Yet our leaders in the Democrat-controlled Congress refused to budge.

The U.S. Senate was so out of touch with the people who elected it that it considered a bill to make energy more expensive. The Senate debated in June 2008and at one point seemed ready to passnot a pro-energy bill but an anti-energy bill. Called the Boxer-Warner-Lieberman bill, it would have restricted the domestic supply of energy even more and effectively increased the federal tax on gasoline, diesel, and other fuels and energy supplies.

The Boxer amendment alone would have raised the price of gas by up to $1 per gallon at a time when family budgets were already being wrecked by high gas prices.

Clearly, something needed to be done.

At American Solutions, I launched a petition drive, Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less, which garnered more than 1.4 million signatures. Chuck Norris created a YouTube video, seen by hundreds of thousands of people, supporting our campaign. I made a similar video on three ways to lower gas prices, which garnered more than 2.6 million viewers.

And we began to see political action.

Senator McCain, the Republican candidate for president, endorsed offshore drilling, and Florida Governor Charlie Crist called for drilling off the Florida coast. President Bush repealed the eighteen-year-old executive order banning offshore drilling, and Congress allowed its own ban to expire.

Congressman Lynn Westmoreland launched a petition drive for more American energy production, collecting signatures from nearly 200 members of the U.S. House of Representativesboth Democrats and Republicans.

But just as the cause of greater American energy production was gaining momentum, we elected the most radically anti-American-energy president in U.S. history. Much of the progress wed made was reversed in short order.

As gasoline prices reached a new, record high during the winter of 20112012, it seemed to me that it was urgent we restart this fight.

Americans have suffered needlessly for far too long due to high energy costs.

The fact is, we have more energy resources than any other country in the world. Our estimated oil shale resources in the Rocky Mountains alone are three times the size of Saudi Arabias oil reserves, which are the worlds largest.

We have 27 percent of the worlds coal.

We have enough natural gas supplies to fulfill our entire domestic demand and become a major natural gas exporter as well.

We have the potential to make wind and solar power significant sources of energy.

We have the largest number of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs of any country in the world.

If we adopt the right strategies and implement sound policies, we can break free of OPECs stranglehold and reduce gas pricesyes, its possibleto $2.50 a gallon.

But the American people must speak up and demand it. This book, revised and updated from Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less , is my attempt to arm you with arguments to win the debate for more American energy now. With new chapterson President Obamas energy obstruction, on the amazing energy developments and discoveries of the last four years, and on rebuilding America today using American energythis book will help you challenge anyone who tells you it cant be done. As we proved in 2008, when enough of us raise our voices, we can force real change.

Chapter One

PRESIDENT OBAMAS ENERGY OBSTRUCTION

O n the day President Obama was inaugurated in 2009, the average price of gasoline nationwide was $1.89 a gallon. In March 2012, it was $3.77 a gallon. That means the price has doubled on his watch. Yet during his three years as president, Barack Obama has done next to nothing to stem the rising cost of gasoline, even though he could put downward pressure on prices with the stroke of a pen. There are dozens of ways he could encourage increased American production of oil and natural gas, but he refuses to implement them.