In Williston, North Dakota, jobs are plentiful, according to a recent MSNBC video. These jobs, to nobody’s surprise, have been provided to us via “Big Oil.” “Big Green” though, if anybody’s heard, really hasn’t done much for any of us – instead it’s raised our taxes. One man, after shortly arriving to Williston, told MSNBC reporters of his pay’s tripling from $30,000 to $90,000 a year. Click here to watch.
Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is doing its best to forbid these of high paying jobs by prohibiting oil exploration and raising taxes on oil and natural gas producers. By way of example repealing Section 199 (a domestic manufacturing tax deduction) – will put another 165,000 jobs at risk come 2012.
Nobody can afford that in the current economy.
A quick, and indicative case study, highlights how the EPA, too, is unnecessarily delaying necessarily economic growth. EPA’s repeals board saw to it that Shell Co., it’s most recent victim in a heavily publicized permitting debate, was given the shaft via a ruling that stated its inability to properly review the environmental implications of drilling in a remote town populated by less than 250 people off the Beaufort Sea. The too-quiet town of Kaktovik hasn’t seen action in decades, nor will it anytime soon if Obama’s green cronies continue the process of policy rubber-stamping, regulating and job-killing.
Long story short: it may be only a matter of time before the now-booming Williston comes to mirror the now-depression era like hub of Kaktovik. Maybe if Shell had been granted a permit extension, Kaktovik’s residents – who are, quite literally, off the radar – could afford to install better heating systems. And as a friendly note to Williston: prepare for the EPA.