Marc Morano, editor of CFACT’s Climate Depot website, appeared on Fox News with Neil Cavuto yesterday to discuss the recent spike in oil and gas prices in the wake of instability in the Middle East.

Neil Cavuto asked why, instead of getting oil from Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi and other Middle East countries, America doesn’t drill for more oil domestically. Morano replied, “The Congressional Research Service just did a study of natural gas, coal, and oil. We have more than the entire world, we have more than China, Canada, and Saudi Arabia combined, but 83% of our lands are inaccessible for oil drilling. And we have the Interior Department held in contempt of court for not allowing more permitting out in the Gulf Coast.”

Marc pointed out that many environmentalists view high gas prices as a good thing: “Many people, including the environmentalists, are getting exactly what they want right now, and it is a situation they helped create by locking up 83% of our oil.”

Specifically, Morano highlighted the views of two Obama administration officials: “John Holdren the science czar, is on record as saying that abundant energy is a threat to America, and Energy Secretary Chu has actually advocated for European style gas prices in the US.”

As Marc also pointed out, “Tom Friedman of the New York Times called for a $1 a gallon gas tax in today’s paper on top of what we are paying now.” Such a tax would be disastrous for consumers’ pocketbooks, especially when the nation is already struggling to climb out of a recession.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYgPEdW6Wdw