Luddite Lefties

Hurricane Katrina has hit.

The levees that protected New Orleans have failed.
And an American city is pretty much obliterated.

The rest of us are seeing gasoline prices spike. Besides a lot of hand ringing, what can the government do?

Lots of things:

1. Suspend federal and state fuel taxes. That would cut the price of gas by fifty cents a gallon. After all, shouldn't government take a hit as well during a crisis?
2. Suspend federal regulations that force refineries to produce multiple gasoline blends. Reduce the number of gasoline formulations and you will improve distribution and supply.
3. Eliminate restrictions that have stifle the construction of oil refineries. There is plenty of crude oil. There is not enough of refined product.
4. Issue permits to drill in restricted areas like ANWR and the Florida coast inside the 75 mile limit.

I believe the President could do most of this by executive order. While these might not be permanent changes, it would buy some time until our elected representatives (or morons take your pick) to pass legislation to make these changes permanent.

If this sounds radical to you, then I might suggest that you have bought into the limits-of-growth and woe-is-me attitudes currently dominating the Democratic Party. The doom and gloom leftist agenda has no vision (unless you believe that we can grow our own food; walk everywhere we need to go; conserve our way to prosperity) and no hope.

What I suggest is a solution that has mile stones and measurable results.

Does this mean I think we should rely on oil forever? No. But shale oil extraction, coal gasification, E85 fuels, methane and hydrogen are not the primary sources of energy in our economy.

Should we work at developing new technologies? Of course, but we need to get the courts and government out of the way. They are not solution, but the hindrance towards energy independence.