Texas Jobs vs. Lizards
I like the GEICO Gecko. You know, he’s the little green lizard that has become an award-winning force in TV advertising helping people find outstanding value on insurance. The commercial’s memorable tagline probably explains it best when the GEICO Gecko says, “My job is saving people money. I love my job.”
Maybe that explains the Obama administration’s plans to put the “Dunes Sagebrush Lizard” or sand dune lizard, on the endangered species list, effectively halting oil and gas production in west Texas, the heart of U.S. oil and gas production. Possibly the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service really intended to put a hedge around the GEICO Gecko so the Gecko could continue being the ambassador of great customer service, quick rate quotes and savings. Perhaps the Feds got the GEICO Gecko mixed up with the sand dune lizard.
Otherwise the Fed’s decision makes no sense. And the sad irony is adding the sand dune lizard to the endangered species list will hurt Texas businesses, cost Texans jobs and money, and further weaken American economic and energy security. At the absolute worst possible time as gasoline prices rise just before summertime.
The Permian Basin in West Texas is currently the largest oil play in the United States today, producing more than 268 million barrels of oil in 2010. At the current price of $112 per barrel, that’s more than $30 billion worth of oil, or 74% of Texas’ production. And that’s just for the crude, not accounting for the tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to our economy related to oil and gas production, including oilfield service, pipelines, and other industries.
Texas remains the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the country. The sand dune lizard lives in the heart of the oil and natural gas rich Permian Basin. Applying federal endangered species protection to the sand dune lizard will kill jobs and paralyze Texas production activities precisely when Texans are looking at $4.00 gasoline, which could rise even higher. If I didn’t know better, I’d think President Obama is actually trying to see what $5 gasoline looks like.
It is inconceivable when America is importing 72% of its oil from foreign countries sending them nearly $40B per month — and after the Obama administration has imposed an illegal moratorium on offshore drilling, curtailed exploration in the ANWAR, the Rockies and off the east and west coasts — that the administration would adopt still another policy which will discourage and hamper American oil and natural gas exploration and production. In addition to finally releasing his birth certificate, he needs to release more American oil and natural gas into the market.
To borrow from another GEICO commercial, it’s so easy a Caveman can understand it.
