Opening Up Oil Drilling Makes Sense
Posted on: Wednesday, 21 May 2008, 03:00 CDT
The off-limits oil deposits in Alaska, if used to replace perhaps just 5 percent of the oil we now import, would help to alleviate our import situation for 35 to 50 years, saving us billions of dollars that we now send to other countries.
Besides the known oil deposits in Alaska, 85 percent of our outer Continental Shelf has gone unexplored for oil. The "not in my back yard" syndrome applies here. Drilling rigs viewed from shore are considered unsightly. The Bakken Oil Formation - encompassing parts of North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana - holds oil deposits. The U.S. Geological Survey says the total probably is more than 500 billion barrels of oil! There also is opposition from congressional Democrats and the environmental movement to accessing these deposits.
Our economy as well as the world's depends on oil, and will for the foreseeable future. By developing these known deposits and exploring for more (there should be no prohibitions), it would give us the years we need to work on developing alternate sources of energy. We probably will never be rid of our need for oil, but the demand can be lessened over time far less painfully than done all at once!
The congressional Democrats and the environmentalists are absolutely irresponsible about the country's energy needs. All they can think to do is investigate the oil companies for "obscene" profits. These investigations are merely cover for their own culpability in the coming economic disaster.
"No" to nuclear power, "no" to new refineries, "no" to oil extraction and "no" to common sense! Taxing the energy companies will only pass costs to the consumer! Using the food supply for fuel creates inflation and instability in the food markets! That is the pathetic energy policy of the Democrats, formulated specifically to please the far left of their party, the radical environmentalists.
Robert Smock
Hephzibah
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