Obama’s Pursuing His Brazilian Partnership, And Vitter Is Furious

On Friday, The Hill reported that the Obama administration is moving forward with plans to push oil exploration off the Brazilian coast. That’s no surprise; the president made lots of waves back in May when he spoke favorably about Brazilian oil…

And now, the implementation phase…

The White House said Friday that DOE Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman will unveil the “U.S.-Brazil Strategic Energy Dialogue” in Brasília, Brazil, on Aug. 17. A number of Obama administration officials will join Poneman on the trip, including officials from the State Department, Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.

Before officially launching the partnership, Poneman will meet with Brazilian officials and stakeholders in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, according to the White House.

The White House said Friday the energy dialogue “will address our mutual interest in the development of safe, secure and affordable energy in an environmentally sound way, including oil, natural gas, biofuels, clean energy, and civilian nuclear energy.”

Sen. David Vitter took an axe to Obama’s Brazilian gambit back in May, saying at the time “It’s ridiculous to ignore our own resources and continue going hat-in-hand to countries like Saudi Arabia and Brazil to beg them to produce more oil. We need to get serious about developing our resources here at home and working toward lower gas prices and long-term energy independence.”

Well, now that the administration is moving forward with the Brazilians Vitter is back after Obama on the issue.

Far too many of our domestic energy producers are sitting idly waiting to get back to work – and a simple solution rests with the Obama administration starting to issue more offshore permits,” Vitter said. “Unfortunately Obama is doing just the opposite going hat-in-hand to countries like Brazil begging them to produce more oil. I’ll keep fighting until the president gets serious about developing our resources here at home.”

Vitter is pushing a bill called 3-D: The Domestic Jobs, Domestic Energy, and Deficit Reduction Act of 2011, which would create more than 2 million jobs, $10 trillion in economic activity and $2 trillion in federal tax receipts (conservative 30-year estimates) by unleashing America’s vast domestic energy potential.

He’s also currently blocking the nomination of Rebecca Wodder to serve as Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks for the Department of Interior until the agency extends hundreds of Gulf of Mexico drilling leases that are set to expire this year.

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