Hey, Wouldn't this Create Jobs and Stimulate the Economy?

As Jammie Wearing Fool asked, "Hey Nancy, how many jobs does this cost us?"

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to announce today that 77 parcels of land which were up for lease in Utah to oil companies for exploration will be withdrawn.

This follows the usual storyline. President Bush opened up the area for exploration, the environmental groups swooped in and started filing lawsuits, finally found a sympathetic judge, and now 110,000 acres are once again off limits.

More at the link. If Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress would open up drilling all over the country, how many jobs might we create? These would be high-paying jobs in an industry that shows no signs of going any place soon. Open up ANWR, oil shale, all the coastal areas and we get energy independence and full employment.

But then, that's the last thing they want America to have isn't it?