. . . and increasing the corporate tax rate by 3 percent on all companies that produce or process oil and gas.

Salazar has cancelled 77 oil and gas leases that had been issued in Utah. He halted plans to lease the oil shale region in five states after a Shell Oil study concluded there are 1 to 2 trillion barrels there of recoverable oil. He declared the listing of the yellow-billed loon as an endangered species justified, which could limit the development of a huge oil-rich region off the west coast of Alaska.

But that's not all. The Obama administration has decided not to issue leases for gas well drilling on the Roan Plateau in Colorado and has shown little interest in developing the "C...

. . . and increasing the corporate tax rate by 3 percent on all companies that produce or process oil and gas.

Salazar has cancelled 77 oil and gas leases that had been issued in Utah. He halted plans to lease the oil shale region in five states after a Shell Oil study concluded there are 1 to 2 trillion barrels there of recoverable oil. He declared the listing of the yellow-billed loon as an endangered species justified, which could limit the development of a huge oil-rich region off the west coast of Alaska.

But that's not all. The Obama administration has decided not to issue leases for gas well drilling on the Roan Plateau in Colorado and has shown little interest in developing the "Chukchi" region offshore north Alaska. (It is bogged down in the permitting process.)

Nuclear power? Obama has often said he's for it, but not until a way to deal with waste from nuclear power plants is found. In fact, one has been found and so designated by Washington at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Obama, however, has proposed to eliminate all federal funds for building a waste site there.

Coal? A Bush administration rule covering mountaintop coal mining was thrown out by the Obama administration as "legally defective."

One way to reduce the use of coal for electricity (thus limiting greenhouse gas emissions) is conversion of power plants to natural gas. For that to happen, the logical policy would be to spur more gas production. But that's not the Obama policy. On the contrary, the Obama policy is to make gas, oil, and coal more difficult to produce and more expensive for consumers.

As for more nuclear power, the policy is, in effect: Forget it.

True, this isn't the way Obama describes his energy policies. With Obama, the trick is to watch what he does, not what he says.

Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD