Environmental regulations aren't preventing oil drilling. Skittish investors are

As gas prices spike for American drivers, fossil-fuel boosters are slamming President Joe Biden for restrictive policies and environmental regulations they say artificially constrain US energy production. But oil and gas executives--gathered the first week of March at CERAWeek by S&P Global, the industry's most influential annual conference--offered a different explanation. The primary thing holding back more production isn't government policies, they say. It's money. Typically, a steep rise in oil prices would push investors to dump cash into more drilling.