Anyone who drives across the country (particularly in Southern California and Texas) can see idle oil wells everywhere. A rancher in North Dakato recently struck a rich oil deposit on his property - without exploratory drilling.
The reason the oil industry does not tap these existing resources is simply to keep prices high. Gas prices have dropped over the past few month - not because of newly drilled oil wells - but due to reduced gas spending (through the increased use of hybrids, or reduced travel).
Supply and demand - as the demand goes down, so do gas prices.
The push to open up ecologically sensitive sites like ANWR and the California/Florida coasts is to simply give more "free" lands to the oil industry. At best, this will simply increase our dependence on oil, and put more money into foreign hands. At worst, it diverts our focus/resources from the real solution: rebuilding our nation's infrastructure: roads, bridges and power grids - all of which generate jobs that cannot easily be exported overseas.
By creating a new, efficient and united power grid, we will enable the use of new power plants: geothermal, wave/tide/dams, solar (and even clean-burning coal and oil) - spurring market-driven competition, innovation, and electric cars - which in turn will create new jobs, increase exports, and strengthen our economy.
Just say no to the oil industry puppets: Bush/Palin. The Republican party has many strong/experienced women as governors and industry execs - their choice of Palin is quite transparent.
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