The Republican Study Committee has struck again.  While Republican House leaders are tepidly tiptoeing around energy policy with an incremental approach, RSC Energy Task Force Chairman Bob Latta (R-OH) is pushing a comprehensive energy production bill.  The Consumer Relief for Pain at the Pump Act, H.R. 1777, would open up thousands of acres worth of drilling fields, extirpate onerous regulations from the backs of our energy producers, strike out at the heart of the domestic environmental legal defense fiscal terrorist community, expedite the oil refinery application process, and streamline the land leasing process.

This bill directly addresses all of the obstacles to oil, gas, and shale exploration; it would create thousands of real jobs, and reduce the cost of energy to consumers.  Being that oil is the lifeblood of the economy and is used for so many vital products and services, this bill would help reduce production and delivery costs of virtually every durable good, spawning unprecedented economic growth.  As an added bonus, it would eliminate many jobs of Democrat environmental agitators and oil rig-chasing attorneys.

Most importantly, this legislation would open up 2,000 acres of ANWR for development of its estimated 10 billion barrels of oil and 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.  This is something that other Republican leaders have abdicated in the face of visceral opposition from the left.  In light of record gas prices and other residual inflationary pains to consumers, this is not a time to go wobbly on ANWR.

Here are some of the key proposals in H.R. 1777 from Congressman Latta’s press release:

• Repeals the Obama permatorium on America’s outer continental shelf;
• Opens up ANWR to exploration and production;
• Establishes a streamlined process for permitting and lease sales;
• Increases access to onshore oil, including shale oil;
• Blocks burdensome and unnecessary regulations; and
• Simplifies the judicial review process to limit frivolous environmental litigation on leases and permits that would indefinitely halt energy production.

A detailed analysis of the bill can be found here.

We will never find more favorable economic conditions in which we can articulate bold differences in energy policy and pass comprehensive legislation.  Democrats will invariably regurgitate their ignorance of market forces by declaring ANWR and the OCS to be but a drop in the bucket, an inconsequential solution to high energy prices.  However, American consumers are all too painfully aware of how a cessation of production of the mere 1.5 billion bpd induced one of the most precipitous spikes in oil prices in recent memory.  Bob Latta’s bill would free more oil, gas, and shale from federal bondage than the sum total of Libya’s exports.  The announcement of drilling operations alone would have an immediate effect on gas prices in such a sensitive market.  The doors of price volatility and futures markets swing both ways.

Call your member of Congress and request that they follow through on their platitudes about energy production and agree to co-sponsor H.R. 1777.  Ask Republican leaders to prioritize this legislation through the committee process.  Let the Democrats try to obstruct us and we’ll hang their destructive energy policy like an albatross around their necks in 2012.

Cross-posted to Red Meat Conservative