Drilling and The Constitution

More than one expert (Eric Bolling, to name one) has watched the growing chaos in the Middle East since the fall of Egypt and postulated that if Saudi Arabia were to go the way of Egypt and Libya that we could easily be looking at $10 per gallon at the pump. It was only couple of years ago we were screaming at $4 or even $5 gas. There was a painful increase in food and heating prices in response to the increased cost of shipping and all things petroleum.

It is doubtful the country could truly survive $10 gas without devastating consequences.

The very fact that we find ourselves facing this possibility is an embarrassment. The constant war and chaos in the Middle East is not a surprise to us. It has been a staple of the evening news for decades. Yet we continue to rely on this region for the vast majority of our energy needs. This is akin to doing your grocery shopping at a burning store, always hoping that it will wait just a little longer before it collapses into smoking rubble.

Our response to the unpredictable Middle East is to refuse to tap into our own energy resources. The Obama Administration has refused to give its blessing to offshore drilling even after a Federal judge declared that its moratorium was unconstitutional. And why is offshore drilling so important? Because our Federal government views all “onshore” drilling as a threat and fights any attempt to do so.

This morning I went back through the Constitution to make sure that I had not missed some language that supported these actions.

Article I Section 8 lists the Powers of Congress and Section 9 lists the Limits of Congress. There was no power given over State owned resources or land.

Article I Section 10 lists Powers Prohibited to States, once again, no mention of resources.

Amendments 9 and 10 make make it clear that the above absence of Powers given to Congress to limit a State's use of its own resources retains that power to the State only.

So my question is this. What is the source of the authority of the Federal Department of Energy to tell sovereign States that they can not drill, mine or otherwise use their own resources and land as they see fit? I can find none outside of simple voluntary enslavement on the part of the States.

It is the moral obligation of the Attorney General’s of each of the States to notify the DOE that their state will no longer voluntarily participate in the Federally sponsored energy crisis. The oil bearing states must begin to drill and refine any available resources in spite of Federal protests if the country is to survive the coming energy crisis.

I am currently a Oklahoma resident, so I am well aware of just how much oil and natural gas is below the grass in this blessed land. I will be writing every State Congressman and my Attorney General to give him or her my strong opinion on this matter. I humbly urge that you do the same.