Obama’s other legal problems

(Elizabeth Cromwell/Wikimedia)

By now most Americans are familiar with the legal challenges to President Obama’s signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act.  In March, the Supreme Court heard three days of oral arguments on the constitutionality of the various aspects of the law including the government’s mandate that all Americans must buy health insurance.  Although the Court has not yet ruled on the case, pointed questions from the justices lead many observers to believe that at least part of the law will be struck down.

If the Supreme Court does rule that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, it will not be the first time that the Obama Administration has been chastised by the judicial branch.  Last year, President Obama’s Interior Department was held in contempt for violating a federal judge’s ruling striking down the moratorium on offshore oil drilling imposed after the BP oil spill in 2010.  After the judge ordered the moratorium lifted, the Interior Department continued to refuse to issue drilling permits for months.  Interior Secretary Ken Salazar also imposed onerous safety rules on drilling that the judge ruled were in violation of federal law.

Obama’s green war on jobs and energy

Oil well in Sherman, Tx. (David W. Thornton)

In spite of acknowledging the need to wean the United States off of Middle Eastern oil, the Obama Administration, prompted by core supporters in the environmental lobby, is waging a job-killing war against two projects that would help the economy, produce jobs for Americans, and, perhaps most importantly, reduce our dependence on oil imported from unfriendly foreign countries.

 

The first issue is the EPA’s proposed regulation of fracking.  “Fracking” is a slang term for hydraulic fracturing, the process of injecting fluids, primarily water, into rocks to create larger fissures.  The larger fissures allow more oil or natural gas to flow into the well.  The process makes it possible to tap into previously unreachable oil and natural gas reserves.  The debate on fracking centers on the Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania and Ohio and the Dakota oil and gas fields.  Fracking has also been used safely in Texas since the 1950s.

 

Read this article on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/obama-s-energy-policies-cost-jobs