Theater Versus Energy Solutions

Imperiously hauled before Congress, oil execs were drilled yet again in a contrived congressional effort to prove to American voters that high oil prices are not the fault of Congress, but of those evil, greedy oil companies. Just how stupid do they think we all are?

Congress' lamentably lamebrain solutions to the crisis are to 1) browbeat oil execs, 2) tax the oil industry, the cost of which will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices at the pump, 3) dispense massive farm subsidies to grow corn-for-ethanol, thus further driving up food prices and, 4) the mother of all inanities, file suit against OPEC. Brilliant!

The breathtakingly obvious solution is to break the stranglehold of environmental extremism on national energy policy by aggressively encouraging environmentally responsible offshore and ANWR drilling, offering huge financial incentives to private industry to develop alternative clean fuels, increasing the number of refineries, and going nuclear. Result: energy independence, security and affordability within five years--or less--and an almost immediate drop in worldwide oil prices.

The tyranny of environmental extremists should no longer be tolerated!