U.S. Obstinacy Means High Oil's Here to Stay

(Editor's Note: RealMoney is free to all TheStreet.com readers until Monday night. We hope you enjoy this article. If you would like to subscribe to RealMoney, please click here.)

The fault in Congress is not the oil companies, it is Congress itself. Just yesterday we saw the Bureau of Land Management issue restricted rules on drilling on government lands. Drilling for natural gas in Wyoming, a major resource, soon stops for small mating animals. It's a political third rail to talk about drilling off coasts for oil .We don't even know if it is there because it isn't worth exploring. Much of Alaska's off-limits. Vital animals.

We're a joke.

Think of it -- every country in the world is trying to find more oil wherever it can be found. Except for us.

We have two important alternatives to oil: natural gas and coal. We can't even pass rules for coal so that McDermott (MDR Quote) knows how much emission is allowed and the utilities can bring in Foster Wheeler (FWLT Quote) to start the process of building reduced-emission coal. What good does it do if the rules come down next year, or ever, and the utilities have to scrap the cleaner coal plants they want?

Our auto companies are pretty much allowed to make any cars the traffic will bear. We have no rules for conservation at all.

NRG (NRG Quote), which wants to build nuclear, took a step backward by launching a bid for Calpine (CPN Quote). This is the only utility that even has a plan to build a nuclear plant in this country. Local folks block them. The federal government says, "Sure, it's fine, go ahead," like that helps.