President Obama Says "Drill, Baby, Drill"...in Portuguese; Updated

Yesterday, President Obama spoke to a group of business leaders in Brazil regarding the economic partnerships that could be made between the two countries. One such partnership is in the area of energy:

The second place we want to partner with Brazil is on the issue of energy, which is why President Rousseff and I also agreed to launch a Strategic Energy Dialogue. By some estimates, the oil you recently discovered off the shores of Brazil could amount to twice the reserves we have in the United States. We want to work with you. We want to help with technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely, and when you’re ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers. At a time when we’ve been reminded how easily instability in other parts of the world can affect the price of oil, the United States could not be happier with the potential for a new, stable source of energy.

It's interesting that President Obama wants to say, "drill, baby, drill"... but perhaps only in Portuguese. In fact, as GatewayPundit highlighted on Friday, President Obama praised Brazil's offshore drilling industry, while at the same time he imposed an offshore drilling moratorium in the Gulf. To date, only three deepwater leases have been issued since the moratorium was quasi-lifted. All three of these leases have been given to oil companies to re-start and/or complete projects that had been started prior to the Gulf oil spill last Spring,not to begin new drilling. In a recent Facebook post, Governor Palin highlighted that the Obama administration's moratorium has forced companies to move rigs out of the Gulf and off the shores of other countries:

Exhibit A: His drilling moratorium. Guided by politics and pure emotion following the Gulf spill instead of peer-reviewed science or defensible law, the President used the power of his executive order to impose a deepwater drilling moratorium. The Administration even ignored a court order halting his moratorium. And what is the net result of the President’s (in)actions? A large drilling company was forced to declare bankruptcy, the economy of the region has been hobbled, and at least 7 rigs moved out of the Gulf area to other parts of the world while many others remain idle. Is it any surprise that oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to fall by 240,000 bbl/d in 2011 alone?

But that’s just the Gulf. There’s also the question of a moratorium on the development of Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf. It seems the Obama Administration can’t agree with itself on whether it imposed a moratorium there or not. The White House claims that they didn’t, but their own Department of the Interior let slip that they did. To clear up this mess, Gov. Parnell decided to sue the DOI to get a solid answer because such a federal OCS drilling moratorium would violate federal law.

So while President Obama is doing everything he can to block drilling in the U.S., even to the point of contempt, he says that America wants to work with Brazil to develop their oil. However, as Governor Palin wrote in August of 2009, we already have helped Brazil developed their oil. The U.S. government sent $2 billion to fund state run (and Soros associated) Petrobas:

So why is it that during these tough times, when we have great needs at home, the Obama White House is prepared to send more than two billion of your hard-earned tax dollars to Brazil so that the nation's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, can drill off shore and create jobs developing its own resources? That's all Americans want; but such rational energy development has been continually thwarted by rabid environmentalists, faceless bureaucrats and a seemingly endless parade of lawsuits aimed at shutting down new energy projects.

President Obama states that America would be one of Brazil's "best customers" of Brazilian oil and that we would welcome this stable source of oil. Governor Palin, on the other hand, firmly supports an energy strategy where America is both the producer and consumer of our own oil. President Obama points to Brazil's vast resources of oil, but he ignores the massive amounts of oil in the Gulf of Mexico in addition to the vast resources in Alaska, Texas, North Dakota, and various formations through the United States. There are 90 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil in the Arctic alone! As Governor Palin so often emphasizes tapping into these resources would provide energy, jobs, and national security--something that drilling done in instable regions in the Middle East and even friendly countries like Brazil would not do.

President Obama also praised Brazil for their clean energy technology and discussed the partnership that Brazil can have with the U.S. saying, " ...we know that the development of clean energy is one of the best ways to create new jobs and industries in both our nations". While President Obama was making the false claim of the economic boost of green energy yesterday, Governor Palin spoke of the failures of green energy initiatives during her speech in India:

So as government locks up land & we lose good jobs in the 'Conventional Resource' arena, you may hear that "green jobs" will be the saviour! But look around the world & try telling that to the thousands of English & Scottish workers who've lost jobs as a result of government investments in "green energy" projects. A recent UK study shows that for every "green job" created, nearly four jobs were lost elsewhere in the economy due to lack of affordable energy! Same story in Spain - investment in "green jobs" brought massive debt, skyrocketing energy costs & 20% unemployment.

This push for 'green' at the expense of 'conventional, reliable' sources is not a credible energy policy or economic policy. It's "Social Engineering" by Central Government Planners. And it leads to nothing but more debt & more job loss. And taxpayers will be stuck subsidizing the failure and paying more for energy.

President Obama shows himself to be on the wrong side of the issues of energy yet again. When he promotes development of fossil fuels, he does so in foreign countries where companies cannot create American jobs. When he promotes energy initiatives in America or in partnerships with other nations, they are initiatives that have proven to kill jobs and increase both energy costs and national debt. Governor Palin continues to be on the right side of this vital issue that links America's energy, economic, monetary, and national securities.

UPDATE: Not only did the Obama administration give Petrobas $2 billion in funding to drill off shore in Brazil, they have also now given Petrobas approval to drill in the Gulf. While this may provide some jobs in the Gulf, it also proves to be another case of the pervasive crony capitalism and questionable associations of this administration. (H/T Tammy Bruce)

Crossposted here, here, and here.