Facts are stubborn things and the facts in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget regarding future lease sales for offshore energy reflect this President’s true position on expanding offshore energy production. The five year offshore lease plan implemented under the previous Administration is soon to expire and be replaced by President Obama’s new draft five year plan that places a majority of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off-limits to energy production and destroys American jobs. But don’t take our word for it; look no further than the OCS rents and bonuses figures in the President’s own FY13 budget proposal. Revenue collected from rents and bonuses is a primary indicator of OCS lease activity.

According to the President’s own budget, in 2011, the federal government collected $1 billion in OCS rents and bonuses from lease sales^[i]. In 2012—the last year of the current five year plan, the budget anticipates collecting over $2 billion in rents and bonuses.

In the first year of President Obama’s five year plan, rents and bonuses fall by 58 percent to only $852 million. By the last year of President Obama’s five year plan, the government is only collecting $569 million—a 72 percent drop from 2012 anticipated returns.

This is more of President Obama’s pro-energy rhetoric followed by anti-energy actions. The American people are still asking, “where are the jobs?” and soon, thanks to President Obama’s restrictive energy policies; they’ll also be asking “where is the energy?” and “why is gasoline so expensive?”

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^[i] FY2013 Analytical Perspectives, pg 244, Table 16-5

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