Gary Bauer Looks at Cuban Offshore Drilling and Calls for U.S.A. to Follow Suit

Conservative leader Gary Bauer weighed in late Monday on Chinese-backed efforts to drill for oil off the shore of Cuba -- and called for America to do the same thing.

In an e-mail sent out to supporters, Bauer, who led the Family Research Council and ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, argued that offshore drilling could lead to lower prices at the pump.

With oil at $100 a barrel and the average price of gas near $4.00 a gallon, National Public Radio reports that five deep-water wells will be drilled in the Gulf of Mexico in the coming months. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that as much as 5 billion barrels of oil may be tapped. And the new drilling could potentially create thousands of desperately needed jobs, Bauer wrote. But before you get your hopes up, the Obama administration has not changed course on its anti-drilling policies. According to NPR, this drilling is set to take place inside Cuba's territorial waters with the help of a Chinese-built oil rig. If successful, Cuba could become an oil exporter.

While some American companies are filing for bankruptcy, in part because of Obama's anti-drilling policies, Cuba is drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, added Bauer, who is now leading the Campaign for Working Family PAC and Our American Values. While Obama's EPA blocks Shell from drilling in Alaska, other nations around the world are rushing to secure sources of cheap, efficient, reliable energy for themselves.