Offshore Drilling

Today I watched an interview on CNN's "The Situation Room" between Wolf Blitzer and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. The first part of the interview was about America's growing support for offshore drilling as a way to reduce demand for foreign oil and thus reducing the overall cost for gas. A CNN/Opinion Research Poll taken between June 26-29 revealed that 73% of Americans approve of offshore drilling while only 27% disapprove. Despite this fact, Pelosi is still very much opposed claiming that it won't help. This is where President Bush comes in. Three days ago, President Bush told America that he would lift his ban on offshore drilling. In the past 3 days, the price of crude oil has dropped $6, $4, and today $5. Over the past week, the price of oil has dropped from $147 a barrel to $129, a drop of nearly $20!!! While this trend seems great, stock market speculation will probably regain control until we see the effects of adding more offshore drills. In addition to the thousands of offshore drilling acres available, there are even more acres available on our own soil in Montana, North Dakota, and in ANWR in Alaska. We also have a national oil reserve that is about 97% full. From all of these sources we can reduce our oil prices significantly, create more jobs, and reboot the economy. Many people are calling for the immediate implementation of new biofuels, however, while they help the environment, they are still much more expensive than the record prices we are currently paying for oil. Therefore, it makes sense to increase our own oil supply immediately to lessen the power overseas dictatorships have with our economy.