The continuing debate of whether to allow oil companies to drill in Anwar and off-shore is likely to come to a head soon. Republicans say this is the best solution to our situation. The Democrats say that this will not help us in the short term, and that the oil companies are not drilling on the 65 million acres of federal land that they already have leases to. Non-partisan experts say that this is not the case. Oil companies take 5 to 10 years to develop a lease. The testing that must take place and the environmental impact studies--the local, state, and federal regulations that have to be passed-- make this process laborious. They also say that 60 percent of the holes that have been drilled on federal land in the last 10 years were dry holes. They also think it would be ludicrous for oil companies not to try to pump all the oil they can at today's prices, 136 dollars a barrel.
I think that if they had allowed drilling 5-10 years ago when this was first brought up, these rigs would be coming online today, and we would not be in the situation we are now. American companies have the cleanest drilling technology in the world, and the chances of an environmental impact are minuscule. Cuba today is selling leases to China off our Florida coast. Are we to think their technology is superior to ours? I am not against new technology, but I am a realist when it comes to our situation today. I believe that if we were to open these areas for drilling, it would have an immediate impact on oil prices. Then in the next 10 years, we can develop alternatives and perhaps not be held hostage to OPEC in the meantime.
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