6/27/2008

Oil Crisis Redress

By Donald Lambro,  Washington Times

America’s paralysis over the oil crisis is a casebook example of the ideological divide that has polarized our politics and hurt our economy in the process.

Reducing the price of $135-a-barrel oil and $4-a-gallon gasoline is not that hard to do. This is not brain surgery or nuclear physics. We have it within our power to bring down the price of both by tapping into our vast resources and technology - now.

That’s what Sen. John McCain proposes. Last week he called for ending the ban against drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf to extract the billions of barrels of oil that lie beneath the ocean and licensing new refineries to turn it into gasoline. Both would not only boost U.S. oil and gas supplies but bring down the price of both - and faster than his critics say.

Just the declaration of this policy by the government would send a clear signal to oil traders and speculators accused of manipulating prices on the open market. They are betting oil production and gas inventories will remain largely at present levels. That means that as demand rises, traders have been able to bid up prices - as they would with any finite commodity whose prices rise when demand threatens to exceed supplies.

Mr. McCain’s plan would break the back of that practice by doing what the traders think we won’t: increase oil and gasoline inventories, which would bring down the price of gas at the pump. He has also called for licensing 45 new nuclear power plants which would reduce demand for coal and oil and lower fuel prices even more…

Lee ADD:The rest of this article goes on to state the many Obama objections to oil exploration anywhere other than the ‘tired old 68 million acres’ arguement.

The point is, a voter for Obama is a voter that is comfortable with higher fuel prices.