Obama’s Energy Lie Exposed

Obama and his choir are taking credit for the unexpected rise in domestic oil production, even though any sentient being knows this is horse manure.  Today Greenwire, a New York Times specialty publication (subscription required unfortunately) reports that in 2011 oil production on federal lands fell by 100 million barrels in 2011 from 2010.  The increase in domestic oil production is occurring on private and state land, such as North Dakota.  As I’ve noted here before, the explosion in the production of the Bakken field in North Dakota almost stops completely at the Montana border.

Anyway, here’s some of Greenwire’s report:

Domestic oil production may be at an all-time high nationwide, but the increase is primarily occurring on state and private lands rather than on federal land and waters, where production appears to have dropped significantly in 2011, according to the most recent government data.

Production of natural gas on public lands and waters in fiscal 2011 dropped 11 percent from the previous year, according to Interior Department data. Oil production dipped nearly 14 percent. . .

The new data potentially undermine a key talking point for President Obama as he pitches his energy agenda on the campaign trail. Republicans and industry groups yesterday pounced on the president’s claim that oil production is at an eight-year high.

“Under my administration, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years,” Obama said in a speech at the University of Miami.  “That’s why we have a record number of oil rigs operating right now — more working oil and gas rigs than the rest of the world combined.”

But much of the new production appears to be occuring on state and private lands in oil-rich places such as North Dakota and Texas, rather than in the federally controlled Gulf.

Others have noted that increases on public lands should be attributed to the leasing and permitting decisions of previous administrations, given the long lead time to develop energy projects.

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