Here's the story. Congress gets many facts from the National Research Council. I'll bet that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid hope that this little factoid from the National Research Counsel doesn't become well known: the largest percentage of oil (63%) that washes on to the shores and beaches of the USA comes from seepage on the ocean floor. Remember years ago when, if you lived near the beach, you would get tar on your feet from walking in the sand? There weren't any oil rigs at that time and I don't recall tanker spills associated with the tar. It was oil creep from the ocean floor, and it's still creeping out of cracks and crevices and washing ashore. The next largest percentage of oil spilled comes from oil tankers. Shipping oil in tankers is the most dangerous way to bring oil to our shores. When there is a spill from a tanker, you get a huge dump of oil all at one time and in one place. If we drilled locally, we could eliminate much of the oil tanker traffic that is so risky. Doesn't that make sense, environmentally?
As an environmentalist, I want my decisions to be based on fact and not on political ideology. I keep hearing "we can't drill our way out of this mess." We can't? Why not? Of course we can. Is drilling the best and only thing we should be doing? Of course not. We should be using oil as a way to fund a green future and to strengthen our dollar. The largest transfer of wealth that the world has ever seen is the US dollars that have been flowing to the Middle East because of an energy crisis caused by Congressional ignorance and deceit, in our own country. This transfer of American wealth has been more costly than the entire Iraq war. Oil dollars that could have been flowing IN to the USA have been stalled by a deceitful Congress and well meaning but misguided green movement advocates. I want to honor EPA standards, and I am an environmentalist. That being said, I am first and foremost in favor of our middle class and lower wage earners being protected from the insanity of the oil jail into which our politicians have placed us. I am also irritated by the willingness of Congress to see our country bankrupted by this energy mess, telling us that we have to get off fossil fuel, yet they don't have any plans to do something other than talk. I guess they're OK with throwing us under the fossil fueled bus, but I still can't find the green wand that they must have to wave the oil away today, and the green cars and solar panels and wind turbines will magically appear tomorrow. We need smarter people making plans for this country, or else we need much better magic wands.
If we drill in the right places, we could have more American oil beginning to enter the market in as little as one to one and a half years. Claims to the contrary are just wrong. Some of the oil would take longer, between three to ten years, but if we harness the current positioning of offshore oil rigs that are in the vicinity of new, oil rich reserves, the oil would flow in about one year or slightly longer. The futures market prices for oil would come down as speculators anticipate increased supplies. We the people could begin transferring dollars into our economy at such a rapid rate that the deficit would fall dramatically (and with lightning speed), and the people of this country could even get paid dividend checks because the oil from AMERICAN territories does belong to all of us. The oil companies could be mandated to allot 3-4 dollars per barrel of FOREIGN oil sold, to an American citizen treasury account. We citizens could demand that the government pay dividends of 25% of those moneys, equally, to all US citizens. This would be a transfer of wealth into the USA that would help our country, restore the value of our dollar, and fund the transition to solar, wind, hydrogen fuel cells, etc., at a pace MANY times faster than without the funds.
Congress says that the oil companies should drill on the acreage now under lease. Our Congress acts as if they are the only ones who have anything to say about this. Well, lets fire anyone in congress, who is against drilling,in the next election. They are trying to deceive us. The oil lease land belongs to all of us. It does not belong to a few in congress. The oil companies paid for the leases with no guarantees regarding oil. If it is not cost effective to drill on the current leased land, then we just got money for free, in essence. And why, if it costs the same to drill a dry well as to drill a gusher of a well, would anyone with brains want to drill on any amount of acreage if it has been explored and deemed to be of low yield potential? I would like to repeat; the oil lease lands are a huge revenue source to our country, and they are leased with no guarantees. If there's no oil, we just got money for nothing. Remember, politicians are counting on this......if they lie long enough, the lies "become the truth." I am tired of the lies.