President Bush yesterday announced that the presidential directive that has impeded oil exploration and development offshore and in ANWR is no more. He has taken action that clears the way for Congress to do the same. I am very grateful, and I know that many readers are equally grateful.

In response to this move, Nancy Pelosi has predictably stated that it means nothing. She complains that it will not do anything to lower gas prices today. What she failed to announce in her great wisdom is anything that actually will lower gas prices today. Why did she not declare the real solution that will reduce the price of gasoline in an instant? Because nothing any of us can do will have that effect.

President Bush’s announcement appeared to have a temporary, but noticeable, effect on the futures price of crude oil, which dropped about $8 at the time of his announcement. That fact suggests that if Congress acts to remove the remaining barriers to domestic exploration and production, crude oil futures prices might drop a bit more. Think what those prices might do if more domestic oil actually hits the market.

Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barack Obama and a lot of other socialists preach continually that increased domestic production is a long way off, and they preach loudly that this action will not reduce gasoline prices right away. When asked what will have a better impact, they inevitably say that the solution is the development of alternative energy sources. When they make these pronouncements, they imply the “development of alternative energy sources” equals “lower gasoline prices at the pump.” This is real poppycock, or maybe even a more aromatic substance than that.

Research in alternative energy sources is likely ten years from achieving any of the goals for which it is hyped. Even T. Boone Pickens who has all the money anybody could want says that his program of research and development of alternative energy sources will take about ten years. Moreover, there is no guarantee that all the research and development anybody, including T. Boone, has in mind will produce anything that even remotely provides the efficiency of energy production from petroleum. Maybe it will, and maybe it won’t. We can hope, but nobody can promise. Hmm. It will also take about ten years to bring domestic production from new fields online. When domestic crude enters the pipelines, we will have a source of energy that actually works. It is efficient. It is reliable. We don’t have to devise new technology along with the new sources. Therefore, if we start all the options at the same time, it is highly probable that ten years from now, the USA could be energy independent using petroleum. In addition, a great deal more will be known about alternative sources, which will put us far along the road to energy independence when the petroleum reserves are depleted.

We must push Congress to remove the remaining barriers to oil exploration and production offshore, in ANWR, in the shale reserves – everywhere. The USA must not be held hostage to environmental paranoia. Oil production today is vastly different from oil production during the West Texas Black Gold rush days. A new well is not permitted to “gush” these days. And a productive well has a footprint that doesn’t bother either caribou or dolphins. There is no reason the choke American productivity and limit the freedom of American life over the false notion that producing oil is bad for the world.

Congress has some really strange ideas. Or maybe they have changed since yesterday. Last I knew, they were all traveling back and forth in airplanes between Washington, DC and their home states. They are all driving cars, or riding in cars driven by others. They have heat and light and air conditioning in their homes. To my knowledge, none of them is riding a bike to work and using window ventilation coupled with funeral parlor fans for personal cooling during the DC summers. Members of Congress happily use all the oil products they think they need. It is time for them to get real and get out of the way of domestic oil production.

Our Congress looks more and more like a socialist government. In the world of socialism, the “people” are all treated alike. They all get food, healthcare and gasoline at the expense of the government, if they get it at all. Each one of the “people” gets in line for his “fair share” of whatever there is – bread, medicine, gasoline. However, outside the class of all “people” is the class of “government leaders.” That class is special. It gets in line for nothing and has all the possessions and privileges that are simply not available to the “people” because there isn’t enough to go around. It is time for us to tell the class of “government leaders” (read that “Members of Congress) to back away from the trough.

Members of Congress need and use the energy output of petroleum products. The rest of the country wants the same privilege. Tell your congressman to remove the barriers to domestic oil exploration and production now.

John McCain has announced his support for offshore drilling to tap petroleum sources which have been known for years. In 1981 the federal government prohibited states from allowing petroleum extraction offshore due to environmental concerns. In light of today’s technology which can reassure us that the environment is safe, even with oil wells in the sea, this moratorium looks silly. In light of the need for the US to be free of dependence on foreign sources of oil, this moratorium looks completely ridiculous.

Predictably, Obama has made fun of the whole idea. He continues to chant the mantra that development of additional resources only enriches evil oil companies. Obama would like to see all free enterprise ended, so any enterprise, be it oil or sliced bread, is anathema to him. He has no idea that additional oil in the marketplace would benefit all Americans for three big reasons: 1) developing the offshore oil resources available to the US would reduce our need to buy oil from other countries, always recognized as a good thing; 2) additional oil in the marketplace will work within the economic law of supply and demand to reduce the price of crude oil and ultimately the price of a gallon of gasoline, a beneficial outcome for every US citizen; and 3) any new profit for oil companies will enrich the retirement funds of millions of US citizens who are stockholders in oil companies, a very beneficial outcome. Obama also doesn’t care if this action would work with the law of supply and demand, or if stockholders would make money to support themselves in retirement. Obama is a socialist, so he has no regard for free enterprise or the freedom of citizens.

Support for offshore drilling is only halfway to a fully sane energy policy. McCain still needs to support drilling in ANWR as well. And while he is at it, he needs to support exploration and development in the Arctic, because if we don’t take action in that area soon, we will find ourselves forever shut out of mineral rights there. Many other countries, such as Russia, have already started looking for any minerals which might be found in that remote, frozen seafloor. It is completely short-sighted and stupid for the US to miss out on the benefits of exploration there.

And, oh, by the way. If we don’t drill offshore, that does not mean that there will not be offshore drilling. In collaboration with Cuba, the Chinese are preparing to drill off Florida’s coast right now. If the US wants the petroleum in the reserves under the sea off our coasts, the US needs to drill and recover it. It will not be allowed to sit there until we are good and ready. While we are dithering about the possibility of some environmental disaster if US companies drill, countries who could not care less about an environmental disaster off the coast of the US are going to drill and extract that oil. We can either get busy and get in on the action, or we can let other people do it, which means that we will need to buy that oil from other countries instead of buying it from our own domestic companies. Does this make sense? No. Absolutely not. It is a complete boondoggle.

Enabling US companies to drill for oil off the coast of the US is only half of the right solution to our oil problems. But hurray for half way. I am happy to see even a hint of progress in the right direction. I intend to let John McCain know how happy I am to see him take this position, and I hope you will do the same.

We citizens need to speak up, speak out, and shout in the ears of everybody in the federal government: Drill here. Drill now. Achieve energy independence for the USA.

Drill Here! Drill Now!

As oil prices spike beyond anyone’s wildest imagination a year ago, there is an outcry for increased production. The president of the United States asked Saudi Arabia to pump more, but he was rebuffed. The current G8 countries are asking the oil producers to pump more. Increased demand needs to be met by increased supply, or the prices will continue to rise.

The impact of skyrocketing crude oil prices is hitting American consumers at the gas pump. A year ago, nobody envisioned that today gasoline would cost $4 per gallon. And rising. Our Congress has suggested that we sue OPEC, a proposition that would be laughable except for the fact that it so dramatically points out the ignorance of our elected representatives. Congress has also slapped the oil companies around, accusing them of price gouging and demanding that they come up with alternatives to oil by tomorrow morning. This exercise is also ridiculous and another example of ignorance.

What will help? What could possibly help reduce the price of gasoline for US consumers? One part of a good solution would guarantee an increase in supply for at least sixty years, and the increase in supply would reduce prices, unless Congress in the meantime institutes price controls. That solution is to drill in the proven reserves that the United States possesses. Drill in ANWR. Drill offshore of Florida. Start work to recover shale oil. Do all these things right here right now.

The other part of the solution is to build more refineries and increase the capacity of existing ones. The oil companies have been trying to do that for a long time, but the process for approval of a request to build a refinery is usually derailed by some environmental concern. I completely believe that humans must live in harmony with nature. However, I do not believe that humans must always give way to snails and fish. There is a middle ground, and we must use our common sense.

Will this solution permanently solve our petroleum problems? Absolutely not. Even though we can confidently predict good supply for many years, the supply is finite. We will still need to develop alternative energy solutions for automobiles, homes and businesses. Furthermore, drilling in US reserves starting today, won’t put gas in anybody’s car for several years. It takes years to build new gasoline refineries, too. Politicians who choose to reject both of these options say that it will take ten years to see the results, even if we move immediately. I say, that it will take ten years to see the results, which means we must move immediately. No matter how long we delay drilling and the construction of refineries, it will still take years between decision and result.

Our nation has a wealth of oil easily in reach, and another treasure of oil which new technology can extract. Advancements in both oil well technology and refinery technology make it possible to do both kinds of activities with minimal environmental impact to wildlife and human beings. If the Kennedy Space Center can be a wildlife refuge, I don’t know any reason that a productive oil field or a new refinery shouldn’t also exist in harmony with living things.

The USA has been the most free and the most prosperous nation in the history of the world. Today, our freedom to develop our own resources is highly restricted, and the consequence is that our prosperity is at risk. We can be free of dependence on foreign oil by drilling in our own reserves. We can reduce high gasoline prices by increasing the availability of domestic crude oil and by building new refineries to increase gasoline production. If we fail to take care of ourselves, we can be sure that no country in OPEC is going to care what happens to us. Our freedom and our prosperity are ours to lose. That is what will happen if we fail to address this threat.

Drill here. Drill now.

Preserve and protect the freedom and prosperity of the USA.

 DRILL HERE!   DRILL NOW!