According to government estimates, there is enough oil in areas accessible
to America - 112 billion barrels - to power more than 60 million cars for 60
years. The Outer Continental Shelf alone contains an estimated 86 billion
barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Had President
Clinton not vetoed exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)
in 1995, when oil was $19 a barrel, America would currently be receiving
more than 1 million barrels a day domestically, all of it taken by better
technology than existed more than 30 years ago. That was when the Alaskan
pipeline was built despite protests from environmentalists who claimed it
would destroy the caribou. It didn't, but the environmentalists are back
with the same discredited arguments. Because most of the oil remains
"off-limits," we are becoming more dependent on foreign oil.
No, we can't "drill our way out" of our addiction to oil, but we can make
the transition to other energy sources easier while lessening our dependence
on foreign oil and propping up dictators who use our money to subsidize
terrorists. A slow transition will also give us time to consider more
fuel-efficient cars and greater use of public transportation, even bicycles
for short trips. Bikes would help more of us lose weight and get in shape. A
friend bikes to work every day, saving gas, car payments, insurance and
repair costs.
The specter of a president of the United States going hat-in-hand to Saudi
Arabia to plead for more (and more expensive) oil from the dictatorship that
underwrites an extreme form of Islam that is out to kill us is obscene.
President Bush ought to be rallying Americans, not embracing people who
don't allow women to drive cars.