High Gas Prices Prompt Bush's Decision To Lift Ban On Offshore Oil Drilling

Crude oil transportation in the US ballooned to 1 million barrels per day in recent years as production swelled beyond existing pipeline infrastructure capacity. A series of explosive accidents involving crude oil train cars has sparked regulators to strengthen rules and safety measures governing these pipelines on wheels. “Tens of thousands of these older tank cars, known as DOT-111s, will have to be replaced or retrofitted under the proposed rules, announced Wednesday. This puts the U.S. on roughly the same timetable as Canada, which announced a phase out earlier this year.” [Wall Street Journal]

This editorial makes a concise argument in favor of lifting US crude oil export restrictions and facilitating greater natural gas exports, but does not tread any new ground with regard to these issues. “Energy policy should not be driven by emotion. Paradoxically, the fastest way to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy is to speed the export of crude oil and natural gas.” [The New York Times]

Sanctions targeting one of Russia’s sharpest economic and geopolitical tools – state-owned natural gas company Gazprom – would be the most effective way to influence Putin’s behavior. But that strategy risks hurting European businesses, governments and populations. The gas giant’s power has been waning, but targeted sanctions would be one of the best ways to show the west is upping the ante in the conflict with Russia over the Ukraine crisis. “You do an analysis of every individual, affiliate, subsidiary, financial institution, key supplier and any other related entities and you start sanctioning every one of them as you move closer and closer in on Gazprom as the target,” he [Mark Dubowitz, of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who is architect of the US sanctions on Iran] wrote in an email. [Quartz]