Pelosi to Bush: Bail Me Out!

Nancy Pelosi’s letter to President Bush calling for the release of crude oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve proves that Democrats finally recognize that increased supplies will help bring gas costs down. But that’s where the good news ends.

If we release our emergency reserves, we are putting America at serious risk in exchange for a very short term and limited solution. The reserve is kept for national emergencies and if we diminish our supplies and are then attacked or hit with a serious natural disaster like a Hurricane Katrina, the effects will be catastrophic. Is selling off these reserves worth the gamble to our national security? To me, it’s simply irresponsible.

If supply does indeed matter as Speaker Pelosi suggests and as Republicans have been saying, then why not lift the bans on offshore drilling, start drilling in the Alaskan Energy Slope, and start exploring our oil shale reserves?

If we want to increase supply, we are sitting on the answer.