If we open up offshore drilling we will only increase our domestic oil production by less than 5% by the year 2030. I highly doubt that this will have any impact on gas prices now or then. But, I’d bet money in vegas that the oil company that does drill there will damage and/or ruin the ecosystem. When have they not damaged or ruined an ecosystem they have had leases in? Ecosystems like ANWR are irreplaceable. They are sort of like the Mona Lisa in that diversity of life and the genomic warehouse they contain can never be re-created once they are gone. Is a Five percent increase (and no lower consumer gas prices) really worth it? Has America lost so much of its drive and innovation that it cannot find a better, more efficient and way to produce and consume energy? Will we ever find a way to exist in a more non-destructive paradigm? Perhaps there is opportunity in the answers to my questions above.
9/17/2008 ~ 1 min read
