Drill Baby Drill But Pay Taxes !

President Barack Obama in his State of the Union's speech tonight announced a sensitive energy measure: opening new areas to oil and gas development. This is an indicator of new support for domestic oil and gas production. The Bush administration and Congress allowed long-standing moratoria that prevented drilling off the US Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire last year. The eastern Gulf of Mexico which is currently under a moratorium until 2022, is estimated to contain at least 3.9 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 21.5 trillion cubic feet of gas.

However, in return of this spine in the President's green agenda, the oil and gas industry will have to pay. Mentioning the record high national deficit, the President indicated that energy companies will pay higher taxes.