A lesser fiction, perpetrated by the oil companies and, to some extent, by misleading government figures, is that huge deposits of oil and gas on federal land have been closed off and industry has had one hand tied behind its back by environmentalists, Democrats and the offshore protections in place for 25 years.
The numbers suggest otherwise. Of the 36 billion barrels of oil believed to lie on federal land, mainly in the Rocky Mountain West and Alaska, almost two-thirds are accessible or will be after various land-use and environmental reviews. And of the 89 billion barrels of recoverable oil believed to lie offshore, the federal Mineral Management Service says fourth-fifths is open to industry, mostly in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaskan waters.
posted on July 5, 2008 09:02:15 AM
Isn't the problem more in the area of not having enough oil refineries? I'm really not very schooled on the issue, but getting to the oil doesn't seem to be the biggest problem. I remember reading that the Saudi's were willing to help us build more refineries, but the Bush administration turned them down. Can someone correct me if I'm wrong?
We're already worried about our heating bills this winter. We just payed off $600 which was the remainder of last winter's heating bill. It's insane. However, as I've said before, while we're complaining that we pay $4+ per gallon, in the UK and France they are paying the US equivalent of $10+ per gallon!! Kind of puts a different light on things!
