Exactly. The world consumes 80 million barrels of oil per day. If you were to add 1 million barrels a day to the supply, the price of gas would probably drop about a nickel. Big deal. And if that oil exploration were commenced today, it would take 5 years before any of that oil hit the market. And even then, you are still talking about a short term solution to a long term problem. If we emptied every single drop of oil from our shorelines, you are still only talking about 3-4 million barrels a day for 10 years MAX. Then what?

We are right back where we started. Extremely high oil prices putting a strangle hold on our economy. Sending trillions of dollars overseas to countries we hate (Let me list a few of the countries with the 10 largest oil reserves: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Nigeria, to name a few). And now we have just destroyed some of the most sacred environment on the face of the earth. All we would have done is put a band aid on a gushing wound.


Fortunately, most politicians in power are against off shore drilling. There has been an offshore drilling ban for 27 years. Obama is against offshore drilling. McCain was against offshore drilling in 2000, but he has recently changed his position in an effort to attract more ultra conservative votes. And his stance is still "Leave it up to the states," a traditional republican value. Do you really think any of the states on the west coast are going to allow offshore drilling? California's republican governor is strongly against offshore drilling. And if someone were to allow offshore drilling in California, you would be just asking for a recall election. Oh, and both Obama and McCain are strongly against drilling in ANWR. All democrats and several republicans in the house/senate are against drilling in ANWR too. So guess what, more offshore drilling is not going to happen in the next 4-8 years.

We can strengthen the value of the dollar.
We can clamp down on oil speculation.
Both of those can help bring the price of oil down. But you are still talking about $100/barrel or more just from strong world demand. The only way to get that price down is to cut demand.

The US alone uses about 11 million barrels of oil per day (15% of the world's daily demand) to power personal automobiles. We have the technology TODAY to power all automobiles using no gas. It made economic sense to buy a hybrid car when gas hit $3 a gallon. Now you are actually saving significantly more money by buying a hybrid car than buying a traditional gas powered car. Now just wait until more plug in hybrids/all electric cars hit the market. Electricity required to power an automobile cost about 60 cents per GGE (gallon of gas equivalent).

The big three automakers are bleeding cash right now. Yet, not one of them is taking a lead on what WILL BE the most popular vehicles in the future (hybrid/plug in hybrid/all electric cars). They have an opportunity to turn their company around, and more importantly turn their nation around. And they aren't doing much about it (Chevy with the Volt is about the only big name project I have seen). As far as I'm concerned, they can continue to bleed cash while Toyota and Honda continue to gain market share. Interestingly enough, Toyota and Honda have both taken the lead in hybrid/plug in hybrid/all electric car development as well as fuel efficiency within their gas powered car lineup. Coincidence? Doubt it.


Drilling for oil offshore is not going to fix our energy crisis. Cutting demand in a way that is financially smart, and does not affect the American lifestyle at all is a much smarter way to help solve the energy crisis.