As gasoline prices hit an all time high for March, President Obama is taking a politically driven “tour de farce” around the country trying to convince voters he is responsible for increased American oil and natural gas production. Yet he’s conveniently leaving out the important detail that increased production is taking place on non-federal land, as confirmed by two recent reports.

• The Obama Administration’s Energy Information Administration last week confirmed that from 2010 to 2011, federal oil production fell by 14 percent.

• On Tuesday, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report confirming that since 2007, “About 96% of the [oil production] increase took place on non-federal lands…”

Still, President Obama is trying to take credit for the recent oil boom on state and private lands that are largely out of reach from his three-year onslaught of roadblocks to American energy production.

President Obama: “Under my administration, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years. That’s a fact. That is a fact.” [Remarks by the President on Energy, Maljamar, New Mexico, March 22, 2012]

Facts are stubborn things, Mr. President, and the fact is that your policies are not contributing to an increase in U.S. oil production. In reality, the Obama Administration’s policies are prohibiting federal oil and natural gas production, causing gasoline prices to skyrocket, destroying jobs and harming economic recovery.

Unfortunately, other Obama Administration officials, including Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, continue to ignore the facts that show federal production declining.

Question [Ed]: “Mr. Secretary, you said oil production is up, including on federal land. The Republican line continues to be that it’s up on private lands but not on public lands that you control…We’re trying to sort out who’s right, because Republicans keep saying production is not up on federal land, it’s up on private land.”

Secretary Salazar: “Ed, I would say that those attacks are simply wrong.” [Secretary Salazar White House Press Briefing, March 2, 2012]

Source: Congressional Research Service

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