Today, President Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore drilling. This has no immediate effect, as Congress also has to act. However, I feel that this charade has gone on long enough. Offshore drilling will not affect gas prices today, or in the future for that matter.
John McCain has been spouting nonsense about offshore drilling for some time. In response to Bush's move today, he said that "if we can show that we have significant oil reserves off our coasts, that will clearly affect the futures market and affect the price of oil."
This statement is technically true. IF we did have significant oil reserves, it might be worth having a conversation about offshore drilling. However, McCain neglects to mention the fact that we don't have significant oil reserves off our coasts. According to the Energy Information Agency, even twenty years from now at peak production, offshore drilling will represent 0.2% of world oil production. These few extra drops in the bucket will leave the price of oil, and thus gasoline, virtually unchanged.
Honestly, I hope that McCain isn't lying, and that his advisers have simply kept this information from him. The poor guy just found out how Social Security works; I don't think his system could take another shock.
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