Newt has no problem lying and cheating. He has shown that ability to obfuscate the issues, not with a half truth sprinkled here, and little white lie over there. He just out and out lies. His promise of $2.50 a gallon of gas, if believed by anyone who has no concept of market and supply and demand, is on it's face a lie.
His solution lies in opening up public lands for more exploration, more drilling, more fracking, done at such a fever pitch, with the relaxation of rules like environmental impact statements. This duty would fall on the government to complete the EIS, and the government would only be allowed a limited time to finish it. Otherwise the oil company would be allowed to move forward if not finished within the allotted time. Sort of like having to charge someone with 24 or 48 hours, whatever it is, or you have to let him go. If the EIS is not finished in time, the oil company would not be bound by it's findings, and the requirement to ameliorate their impact would no longer be their problem. And don't expect the companies to suddenly start looking out for you or your children. That just isn't going to happen.
What he (and other just drill baby proponents) decide not to mention is that drilling and exploration has exploded in the last twelve years. In 2000, there were some 700 oil and natural gas rigs in the country. Today there are over 1,900. And despite the best efforts of the federal government AND the producers, the price of oil has still risen. Cars have become more efficient, almost all energy consuming parts of the economy have decreased their usage. Producers have found more efficient ways to harness the energy stores they find. So why do oil prices continue to rise? Because ITS A GLOBAL MARKET. And while we as Americans are looking for ways to decrease the size of our energy footprint, the rest of the world is just now catching up to us in manufacturing and modernization. Hence their use has risen astronomically. And as with any marketplace, when demand goes up, and continues to rise, the prices will go up regardless of supply. As an example, a huge oil and natural gas field was (literally) just discovered off the coast of Cork, Ireland. But don't expect that to lower prices. Because Ireland isn't about to flood the market with oil (even if they could, which is doubtful), because they'll want that same premium price OPEC and Norway and Venezuela are enjoying.
Another of what Newt calls a key arrow in his $2.50 quiver is that he would (along with the rest of the right) okay the Keystone Pipeline. While this would be something tangible people could touch, see, and feel, (as opposed to increased demand in other parts of the world) it would actually only add less than .5 percent to the daily global supply. And it is the daily global supply that dictates price, no matter where it comes from. So oil found and produced in the United States costs the same, the only savings is in cartage. And while that is sizable, they don't talk about how much shipping costs are when oil prices go up, they talk about barrel cost. So if the global market is supporting (however spuriously that support is created) $103 a barrel, oil producers in America price their oil at $103 a barrel.
So despite Newt's desire to pretend that the price of oil is something the President can dictate through his actions, the fact of the matter is there is really very little we or the President can do about the price of a barrel of oil. Becoming self sufficient will only come through sustaining green energy initiatives. And that scares the oil companies. Because they know they don't own the sun, wind or tides. And probably never will.
