Obama administration to support offshore drilling… in Brazil

President Obama has elected to underwrite the cost of offshore drilling – in Brazil – with funds from the U.S. Treasury. So much for working to create energy independence.

From today’s Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a “preliminary commitment” letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees. Either way, this corporate foreign aid may strike some readers as odd, given that the U.S. Treasury seems desperate for cash and Petrobras is one of the largest corporations in the Americas.

What it really comes down to is return on investment. Although the United States will need to fork out $2 billion in loans, they are almost guaranteed a return – a good one most likely – on their investment. In this case, the Obama administration is betting against alternative fuels for the near future.

We’ve got a lot of oil both offshore and inland that can be tapped to help reduce the cost of energy right here at home and reduce our dependence on oil from other countries, but liberal and eco-activists fight development at every turn.

Hat tip to Sister Toldjah and Gateway Pundit, who reminds us the Obama administration approved a nuclear energy program for the United Arab Emirates back in May while Congress and the administration drag their feet on expanding nuclear power production here in the United States.

Morrissey at Hot Air now on it too.