If you think we should be extracting oil from domestic supplies to reduce dependence on foreign oil you might wish to sign a petition to that effect at Newt Gingrich's American Solutions.
Although I strongly favor increasing our domestic production there are some caveats and we need to consider and some concessions from the oil companies we need to demand:
- It will take some time to get the wells and rigs built to access the oil. The benefit from drilling will not necessarily be immediate.
- The amount of oil we can bring to market will still be limited by our refinery capacity.
- Part of the price the oil companies must be expected to pay is that domestic oil be sold on domestic markets. To open up ANWR so that Exxon can sell oil to India makes no sense.
- Domestic oil must be seen as a stopgap, not a long term solution.
- Oil companies should be required to purchase a negotiated number of square miles to our national park or wildlife refuge system for every square mile of public land they use for drilling.