Pump prices on pace to top 2009 highs

From Yahoo Finance news, we learn that more pain at the gas pumps is on the way:

The cost of filling up the car is rising in the wake of soaring crude and by this weekend, pump prices will race past the highs for all of 2009.

Tracing the ascension of crude, up 14 percent since mid-December, energy prices across the board are catching up. On Tuesday, benchmark crude prices closed higher than they had on any day last year.

And from MaxedOutMama we learn that naturally, the Obamites want to make domestic drilling for oil and natural gas harder:

Drilling for oil and natural gas on government land will face increased environmental scrutiny and slower approvals under requirements announced today by U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

The moves will stop industry from treating public lands as a “candy store,” Salazar said. Representatives of oil and gas companies said the changes will slow domestic-energy development and make the U.S. more dependent on foreign supplies.

I guess we still aren't tired of shooting ourselves in the foot yet. MaxedOutMama sums up the Administration's energy policy thusly:

Not only don't we have any way to replace our transportation infrastructure with electric vehicles, we don't currently have any plan to sustain our current electricity production. We have thrown immense amounts of money into "green" sources and we are getting very little out for our efforts.

If we are concerned about carbon, nuclear power plants should address that issue.

If we are concerned about safety, coal plants are the way to go.

If we are concerned about air quality, both nuclear and NG plants are the way to go.

If we are concerned about the environment, then more hydropower is the way to go; any new projects are currently blocked by environmentalists.

If we are concerned about national security and the economy (and they are now one and the same issue), then it would be something like all of the above. Oil is not used to produce much in the way of electricity, and to the extent that electric vehicles are viable, we will need the electricity production to operate them.

If we want to be poor, hungry, sick and generally vulnerable, then our current policy is the best possible option and just keeps getting more optimal all the time. The more US energy policy looks like California policy, the more US finances look like CA finances. Is that any way to run a country?