On Thursday, oil baron Harold Hamm will testify to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the unrealistic promise that the U.S. can drill its way to energy independence. As chief architect of Romney’s energy plan, Hamm will echo its pro-oil tenets.

Hamm is CEO of Continental Resources, the company with the largest holdings in the Bakken oil and gas boom and his policy positions are, of course, firmly for maximizing drilling.

As lawmakers discuss the prudence of the GOP’s “Drill Baby Drill” energy plan, here are three essential questions that Hamm should answer at Thursday’s hearing:

How does the Romney/Ryan energy plan apply to national parks, and do you support the idea of throwing out federal safeguards for drilling in national parks that belong to all Americans?

The Romney energy plan proposes turning energy development on public lands over to the states, but it includes no details about which public lands would be included and how such a policy would work. In fact a recent trade organization, the International Association of Drilling Contractors, said that working under various state regulations could cause operators to “tear their hair out” and that it was “a little bit of populist raw meat.” ...

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