Senator Cornyn On Nancy Pelosi & Dem Energy Policy

Senator Cornyn is certainly right that we need to attack our energy woes across a spectrum of alternatives, but that one of those alternatives must include drilling. As the above cartoon from The Ryskind Sketchbook amply demonstrates however, Cornyn's accusation that Speaker Pelosi has failed to keep her promise to America on energy is demonstrably false.
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This from Senator Cornyn, writing at Power Line:

. . . Nancy Pelosi promised an effective new energy plan before the 2006 election – that’s about 809 days ago – and we’re still waiting. They’re now postponing votes because some Democrats fear reality has finally set in – and Congress may actually approve more domestic exploration for new energy.

We’ve put ourselves in an irrational box. We’ve put 85 percent of our prime energy exploration lands off-limits. The U.S. is the only country in the world that refuses to develop its own natural resources. With a growing worldwide demand for energy, we’re willing to enrich foreign governments – some of which wish us harm – instead of helping ourselves.

The U.S. is well on the way toward transitioning away from over-reliance on fossil fuels. I’m for pursuing every source of energy out there – solar, nuclear, clean coal, wind, biofuels, hydrogen, shale. We need it all. But we’ve built up an infrastructure over 100 years that must be relied upon as we make the change to renewable sources. Congress has to get out of the way and allow the U.S. to develop its resources for that infrastructure – or we’re headed towards economic catastrophe.

As John notes, a number of Democratic officeholders have heard from their constituents, and they want to vote to expand energy exploration. But their leadership is making sure they cannot. You can feel the Democratic solidarity on this fragmenting. One of two scenarios is likely. Either the leadership wakes up and allows expanded development – in Alaska, outer continental shelf, shale – or I suspect Republicans are going to do a great deal better in this fall’s elections than most pundits now assume.

I’m staging an "Energy Independence Days" discussion this week on my Web site. I will be joined by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Speaker Newt Gingrich and others who see clearly the need to produce more domestic energy and reduce our reliance on foreign sources. . . .

Read the entire post. As Ed Morrisey at Hot Air notes, the problems we face internally go beyond our current Democrats. The environmental lobby have made an industry of bringing law suits under environmental laws before carefully chosen courts to stop any exploitation of our resources.