Michael Fitzsim...'s  Instablog

President Obama used his first Oval Office address to reinforce the fact that he simply doesn't have a clue about energy policy. Once again, framing himself as environmentally friendly, he preaches for "clean energy" and the need to electrify our cars. Of course everyone knows these cars must be recharged, and guess what will be consumed to recharge them: COAL. Obama continually tells us the need to move away from fossil fuels while at the same time designing energy policies which will increase our consumption of the dirtiest of them all! Obama and Chu are bought and paid for by coal interests. Name another Nobel Prize winning physicist that believes in the oxymoronic myth of "clean coal". You can't do it. Why? Because most high-school students recognize "clean coal" for what it is: a fairy tale.


                  Obama and Chu: "clean coal" Partner's in Crime

Meantime, the most abundant, clean, and cheap of all fuels (natural gas) is completely ignored by the supposed environmentalist. What a tragedy. It's a tragedy that both Ford and GM make NGVs but don't sell them in America. It is a tragedy that Fuel Systems Solutions (FSYS) builds its natural gas home refueling appliance in Italy instead of America. It's a tragedy that America sends it energy wealth to Arab oil producers and funds both sides of the war on terror. It's a tragedy that this country will not reach its potential because of greedy, incompetent, and corrupt politicians.

Making matters worse is Obama's response to the Gulf oil spill. Instead of realizing the BP's well was a huge departure from the norm in terms of well design and management, the Obama administration has apparently painted all oil companies with the same broad brush. The first negative result of his wrong-head moratorium are the canceling of deep-water rig contracts. StatOil (STO) is the latest to terminate two contracts (Transocean and Maersk rigs). Higher unemployment rates will follow next. And finally, the U.S. will be further de-industrialized and our dependence on foreign oil will grow. Combined with the idiotic energy policy pushed last night on national TV, one begins to wonder if the conspiracy theory might have some truth to it. After all, it was the Obama administration that appointed a former BP exec to the MMS. And it was the Obama administration that has dragged its feet on the oil spill response. All a big conspiracy to push his supposed "clean energy" agenda down our throats?

But what kind of clean energy "policy" is Obama designing when his policies:

1) increases coal consumption
2) increases our dependence on foreign oil?

This is not "policy", this is insanity. We've all been betrayed. Despite the two largest coal and oil environmental disasters in U.S. history (the Kingston, TN coal fly-ash spill and the Horizon disaster), our supposedly super smart environmentally friendly President hasn't learned anything. He is making everything worse. I could not design a worse energy policy if I sat down and tried. Of course, what can we expect from a President whose administration turned down the Dutch offer to supply supertankers designed to surround the leaking oil rig and suck the oil out of the water before it reached shore? Obama has lost all credibility. He is not concerned with the environment nor the American middle class. He is continuing, and expanding, the U.S. government's objective of weakening the middle class and the country's economic future.

Not one to complain without offering solutions, here is a strategic long-term comprehensive energy policy:

http://thefitzman.blogspot.com/2008/08/strategic-long-term-comprehensive-us.html

that would leverage America's abundant, clean, and cheap natural gas reserves to:

1) reduce foreign oil imports
2) keep American energy dollars in the U.S. by leveraging natural gas transportation
3) re-industrialize the country by creating jobs in the auto, energy, and industrial sectors
4) greatly reduce CO2 and toxic particulate emissions by replacing coal and oil consumption with cleaner and cheaper natural gas
5) usher in an era of prosperity most Americans have, at this point, given up on
6) allow us to reduce our imperialistic military policy and spend our wealth in our own country for our own people
7) allow us to balance our budget and maintain our standard of living

For American investors, all this means higher oil prices and harder economic times. It is time to get out of all broad S&P500 investments and into energy stocks and precious metals. A few suggestions: Conoco Philips (COP), Chevron (CVX), Petrobras (PBR), StatOil (STO), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Murphy Oil (MUR) and Suncor Energy (SU). Buy on market weakness and rely on the fact that long-term oil prices are going higher. Much higher.

Disclosure: Long COP, PBR, STO

Disclosure: Long COP, PBR, STO