From National Review, How Obama is Choking Off US Oil Production. I'm still wondering why more of the Republican candidates aren't hammering him for this, it seems so obvious. Just approving the Keystone XL pipeline would bring in another 700,000 barrels a day. Throw in the lack of leases for drilling on federal lands and the hold-up in offshore permitting in the Gulf of Mexico and we could add about two million barrels a day in just a few years. Add in the new EPA restrictions on refinery emissions, which restrict production as well as the development of new refineries, and it is no wonder that gas prices are on an upward trajectory with no relief in sight. Higher gas prices are part of the plan, even if they won't come right out and admit it. How else do you get consumers to shell out fifty grand for an electric car or upgrade from that gas guzzling truck?