Hiking The Cost of Gasoline One "Endangered Species" At A Time

H/T Free Republic: Obama Clears the Way For America's 2 Largest Oil Wells to be Shutdown in Texas

In a previous post, I shared the story about the Delta Smelt in the Central Valley of California and how a US Circuit judge had ruled that since this tiny fish was considered an endangered species that the irrigation system that allows this fertile part area of US agriculture to supply food for a large part of the nation must be essentially shut down.  That's right, there is a man-made drought in California because of an "endangered species" of fish.  Now, much of the food that we used to get from the Central Valley in the winter is supplied by farmers in Mexico and South America, shifting still more money outside the US economy.  In addition, this situation has destroyed the livelihood of many US citizens and also a good number of nut trees which would take years to re-establish.  While the majority of the agricultural crops could likely be planted once the irrigation water is restored (if it ever is), it takes a few years for a tree to reach maturity before it can produce.  The initial ruling in this case was made in 2009 but was upheld in 2011 in the 9th Circuit Court.  This situation puts the US government in control of a major part of the domestic food production of the United States, and all on account of an "endangered species".  

Now, we have been informed that, due to another "endangered species", the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard, that the government will be shutting down more US oil production, this time in the important West Texas fields.  Free Republic writes:  

The earth worshiping environmentalists running the USF&W have used an owl to shut down logging in the Northwest, a mouse to shut down wheat farming in Colorado, a minnow and rat to end vegetable growing in California, a frog has closed fish hatcheries in the deep South, while the reintroduction of wolves are endangering the lives of ranchers, farmers, and hunters all across America from the Rockies to Maine.  Now they are planning to use a lizard to shut down two of Americas largest oil wells in Texas. We already have one of the largest oil reserves put off limits by the EPA in Anwar Alaska, while Obama is ignoring a Federal judges order to allow drilling to continue in the Gulf. This while almost every communist country in the world has oil wells operating in our backyard, the Gulf of Mexico.

The current threat to America's freedom comes from a 3 inch lizard called the Sceloporus Arenicolus, or better known as the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard or the Sand Dune Lizard. It was originally classified as a subspecies of the Sceloporus Graciosus, or Common Sagebrush Lizard. Before they designated the Dune Lizards as a separate species, there were so many of them you could feed them to the Chinese as a delicacy and never run out. It was in 2002 that the Center for Biological Diversity first petitioned to have the lizard listed as endangered. The Bush administration stood in the way of the lizard being listed for 6 years, but last year Obama cleared the way by ordering his administration to back off from delaying the listing. This in spite of the news that Obama has repeatedly refused to grant species the protection for which they are known to qualify adding them instead to the waiting list. So why did he allow this lizard to be listed? There can be only one reason, and that is because Obama wants to destroy America's ability to be energy free.

We keep hearing folks lamenting the fact that gasoline may cost $5 per gallon by summer of 2011, but in some areas of the USA we are already over $5 per gallon in April.  I would say that there is a distinct possibility that if enough factors come into play, we could see gasoline in the $7 to $10 range before 2011 ends. Actually, this new "endangered species" and the associated restrictions on oil production has not likely had much of an effect yet on prices, but it will. Barack wants $7 to $10 per gallon, or more if he can arrange it.  Why? Because he knows that the price of gasoline, probably more than any other single factor, can paralyze and collapse the US economy, and make the people dependent for their survival rather than independent as they would be in a Free Enterprise economy. 

One should not expect The Obama Administration to be made accountable as the US media have been running interference for President Obama in this process regarding the spike in fuel prices.  As Ron Futrell writes at Big Journalism:  
"The first rule for the media on high gas prices, do not make a connection between Barack Obama and rising prices, in fact, make it look like he is doing everything he can to help stop the suffering."

Oh, by the way, the core inflation rate calculation used by the US government does NOT take into account the cost of fuel or food, and as a result, the inflation rate is artificially low when compared to the real cost of living.  Once the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel start to spike, the cost of everything that moves by the use of these fuels will spike as well.  What prices with this affect?  ALL prices on EVERYTHING, that's what!
 
What will the Federal Government declare as the next "endangered species" and what will be the cost that we all have to pay? I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that The Feds can declare ANY species to be endangered, at any time, for virtually any reason.  Having witnessed what this Obama federal government is willing to do to bring about "Change", there is nothing, nothing, that I would be surprised to see them do.  

The only Endangered Species that is being ignored in this process is the taxpaying US citizen, who has seen the government move rapidly from being a servant to a master, and watched The Constitution mocked along the way to boot.