1) ANWR holds at most 2.7 years of US consumption, more likely < 2 yrs. Possibly as little as 1. More importantly, that’s about 3 months of world consumption.
2) Alternative Energy has been sought with funding for 31 years now. The DOE was created in 1977. Oil remains the primary fuel source for transportation. There is no proof or law of the universe that says acceptable alternatives can be found.
3) Cities are not farms. Food gets to cities on trucks, usually over large distances. Trucks use diesel. Nuclear power provides electricity, but the power required for trucks to carry food to cities is beyond practical electrical designs. The horsepower/watt conversion would dictate battery size/weight so large that little payload room would remain in the equations. There is much talk of cars for alternative fuels, but from the perspective of sheer survival of civilization, it is trucks that matter, not cars.
4) The Democrats are being entirely political when they say “you can’t drill your way out of the problem”, but from a long term perspective this is right. New supply would lower prices temporarily, and there’s nothing wrong with a temporary reduction in price, but the truth is that there is no reliable evidence behind “oil is replenishing itself” theories. If there was, private landowners with old wells on their land would restore their revenue flow now that prices are so high. They don’t because empty means empty. There is a finite planetary supply of oil and when it’s gone, it’s gone. (Note, however, that Saturn is made of methane)
I agree with all your points but doubt they'll be popular on this forum. Drilling ANWR is akin to putting a band-aid on a gushing wound.
Our energy crisis is going to call for a complete restructuring of American society. We got a taste of the future back in the 1970s and we adapted temporarily. However, we squandered the opportunity to change our habits and now we are paying the price. Change will be forced upon us.