There’s something about $4-a-gallon gas that brings out the opportunist in federal lawmakers.
This week, the nation’s capital was abuzz with desk-pounding talk from the right about more drilling, and breathless proposals from the left about eliminating oil company tax breaks.
Though there are kernels of good policy buried deep beneath the rhetoric, you’d be hard-pressed to separate them from the bluster.
We think both pieces should be considered as parts of a comprehensive energy policy that includes domestic drilling with reasonable environmental protections, continued development of alternative energy, and an alignment of energy subsidies and tax breaks with broader policy.
Coming up with a comprehensive energy platform, however, is hard work.
It should be a long-term road map that is not hijacked by crass attempts to score points with voters who have immediate worries about gas prices.
But this is Washington we’re talking about, where every crisis presents an opportunity to spin forth a favored policy, regardless of how inadequately it addresses the problem.
Gasoline topping $4 a gallon is the perfect example. It is, no doubt, a troubling additional expense for many families and a drag on the larger economic rebound.
The consensus among mainstream economists is that rising gas prices are a result of increased demand from emerging markets and turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa. These macroeconomic forces are not easily influenced.
To be sure, a slew of Republican proposals to speed up and expand offshore drilling would increase supply . . . some years down the road.
The trouble is, that supply increase would be relatively small when melded into the global oil market. It’s not going to bring down gas prices very much, if at all.
Is it a good idea to responsibly expand domestic drilling? Yes. So long as there are environmental protections in place, we think domestic oil production has an important place in a broader energy policy.
Republicans need to stop demagoguing on the issue in an effort to exploit gas prices and push a favored cause.
We have the same criticism about Democratic proposals to cut billions in annual U.S. subsidies and tax breaks for oil companies. It won’t do a thing to bring down prices at the pump.
Is it reasonable to look at those tax breaks in the broader context of addressing the budget deficit, or in examining whether it moves the country toward its energy goals? Yes.
But last week’s congressional hearing, at which executives from the nation’s five largest oil companies were called to testify, was more about beating up Big Oil for soaring gas prices.
This country would be well-served to have elected officials who contemplate rising gas prices in the larger context of developing a coherent energy policy — but that’s not much of a sound bite, is it?
