Those who argue against an urgent expansion of oil exploration because it would not have an impact for many years are unwittingly making an argument to drill now. The US imports nearly 70% of its oil, and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds a mere 35 days of US oil needs. That is troublesome. Taking immediate steps towards greater energy independence is not just a sensible economic policy, but should be a strategic priority for the nation and all Americans, regardless of political party.

For example, if the Strait of Hormuz — through which 20% of all oil and 40% of seaborne oil transits — were shut for any extended period of time, the US economy could be severely impacted. Such a situation would be far less serious if our dependence on foreigners for energy were relatively modest, but that is not the case. (We understand that the US imports much of its oil from nearby sources, but that does not make us immune from price shocks in a world market.)

Opponents of offshore and ANWR drilling argue that the US cannot materially increase its conventional energy supplies in the short term. That means that the failure to act now to increase supplies over the longer term is an act of serious irresponsibility. Furthermore, the need to curtail borrowing 40% of the US budget, much of it from foreign sources, is becoming acute, and domestic energy production is one part of the cure.

It takes a decade or more to get oil produced from places like ANWR. (The US could have been producing oil from ANWR for several years now but for the 1995 Clinton administration veto of an authorization to do so.) So it’s obvious that companies need to be able to start drilling, and to do so now. If we had proceeded as we could have in 1995, and not taken further foolish steps, like the strange 7-year moratorium on offshore drilling, our energy situation today could be materially better than it is.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 7th, 2011 at 2:50 am and is filed under business, Democrats, Republicans, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.