I just got my membership here, so I am new. Let me chime in on this one. Our oil problem is not going to be solved by drilling new wells. Here are some facts. The WTO has made it possible to establish free trade which has been bad for all American workers, but great for workers in India and China. With a total population of five billion people, the once poor nations now have an emerging middle class. Since the oil would take about 7 years to go online, we will be looking at (at minimum) a new middle class the size of the United States total population that wants to drive cars and consume in the same way we will. If we drill, the new supply will reduce the cost of gas, but it will not be a difference of 2 to 4 dollars a gallon, but the difference between 20 to 22 dollars a gallon. It is simple supply and demand. By the time this goes online, we will have far passed our ability to stay at the same rate of consumption. 10 years ago we were about 7% of the worlds population and we were consuming about 80% of the natural resources. Now the rest of the world wants it too.

The only solution is to look at this as a national security problem. During WWII we were able to convert all the resources of this country as well as the manufacturing base from making cars into making war products like planes and tanks. We need to do this again, but to make energy. We should have every house in this nation with solar panels (providing to themselves and a central grid) within 2 years. We should immediately convey production lines to only making cars with the highest gas standards within 2 years. We should immediately pass laws prohibiting undo waist (why does my software has to come in a 10 gallon create). We could preserve our way of life by taking some real measures, but no one seems willing to do it. And the thing is, none of these are political, they are common sense conservation. We have proven that we can do this in the past, so there is no reason we cannot do it now.