Overpaying at the pump -

It's 3.93 where I live - Jack

Energy prices are on the rise. The service station down the street from The Heritage Foundation charges $3.71 per gallon of regular gasoline—and some places in the country charge even more.

» Take our poll: What’s the most important energy policy the government should pursue?

Heritage expert Ernest Istook places the blame for rising energy prices squarely on our elected leaders, who have declared our nation’s plentiful natural energy resources off limits and suppressed development of new refineries or nuclear power plants.

And what of alternative energy sources like ethanol? Istook reminds us that alternative energy “remains far in the future, and much of it will be more expensive than $4-per-gallon gasoline”

Now, to compound the problem or rising energy costs, the government is considering a proposal put forward by radical environmentalists to add the polar bear to the endangered species list.

If enacted, this policy would pose a serious threat to America’s economy, as Heritage Foundation energy expert Ben Lieberman explains. And perversely, it could actually end up harming the bears it looks to protect.

Heritage President Ed Feulner sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne on Thursday pointing out the origins and consequences of the polar bear plan.

» Read Dr. Feulner’s letter to Secretary Kempthorne (PDF format)

“Adding the polar bear to the list of threatened species is nothing more than a back door way of ensuring the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is never opened to energy production, regardless of how slight the impact to the environment will be,” he wrote.

“We must prevent alarmist environmentalists from finding yet another way to limit our national energy consumption and production,” Feulner continued. “Today’s high energy prices will continue to rise unabated if we further limit domestic production and usage of our natural resources.”