Oil For America

No matter which study you read, one thing remains the same, there is a lot of oil available in the territory of the United States, both on and off shore. The United States Geological Service shows that there were 45 billion barrels of oil to be gained in 2005. The Investor Business Daily says there are 112 billion barrels of oil just lying there right now. And the Institute for Energy Research, suggests that there are trillions to be found. Taking the IBD's 112 billion, would give enough gas for 60 million cars, for 60 years.

At the North American Prospect Expo, the Obama administration was heavily criticized for it's hampering of the American economy, by not allowing the country to use it's own oil. Bruce Vincent, president of Houston oil and natural gas producer Swift Energy, stated that "These have been the most difficult three years from a policy standpoint that I've ever seen in my career. They've done nothing but restrict access and delay permitting. The Obama administration, unfortunately, has threatened this industry at every turn."

White House press secretary Jay Carney said President Obama had "put in place policies that will dramatically expand the amount of exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, will expand the amount of exploration in Alaska, will expand the amount of natural gas production here in the US". Yet the administration has revoked 77 oil and gas licenses, in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado, in 2012 alone. That area has the world's largest deposits of shale oil, and according to the Rand Corp, holds between 1.5 and 1.8 trillion barrels of crude.

Under President Obama, gas prices in the United States have gone from an average of $1.89 a gallon, to their current average of $3.47. And Obama threatens the country with promises of it going up to five dollars a gallon. Presidential candidate, former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, has put forth his plan to get the prices back down to at least $2.50 a gallon. Most of his plan includes drilling here, drilling now, and working with friendlier countries such as Canada, who won't threaten to cut oil off from us as some middle eastern countries like to do.

Environmentalists use scare tactics about how entire habitats will be destroyed by drilling for oil. One of their favourite places is the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, where an estimated ten billion barrels worth is available. If you listen to them, they would have you believe that the entire park would be marred and killed by using the oil that is there. In reality though, only 2,000 acres out of 19 million would be touched.

The benefits of using our own oil is beyond the obvious of it's being cheaper. The jobs it would create would boost the economy in many ways as well. Ending our reliance on foreign sources, would make the US stronger and back to being more dependent.