Here's the point: we don't have to import a SINGLE DROP of oil from ANYWHERE - Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria. NO imports required AT ALL.
We have 62% of the world's 3 TRILLION barrel oil shale reserves, meaning we have around 1.9 TRILLION barrels of oil.
That same oil shale can be converted to liquid crude for $40 per barrel on average. About 1/3rd of the current price of oil on the world market. Meaning we can slash the price of gas, heating oil, and all oil products by 1/3rd. Putting gasoline around $1.35 per gallon.
Current US consumption is 20 million barrels a day, and we import 12 million barrels a day.
Now do the math. At full consumption, 1.9 trillion barrels will last about 95,000 days. Or 260 years. At current import levels, we'd last 433 years.
Add in the proven reserves in the US currently being tapped, and we have at LEAST 300 years of the full 20 million barrel per day consumption, all within the US, all without drilling ANWR or any offshore area.
Given these HARD FACTS, T. Boone Pickens is simply LYING when he says we can't produce enough oil domestically. Flat out, bald-faced. And it's meant to get you to have sympathy with his position, view him as a "savior" with his massive taxation scheme called wind power.
You want to solve the energy crisis? Pressure Congress to lift the oil shale ban. Don't push for ANWR, offshore, or any other drilling. Oil shale alone. Nothing more is needed.
Pass this information along to your liberal friends - the facts come from the DOE and Wikipedia, hardly left-wing sources! It's inescapable proof that we can produce our own oil.
And it's proof that Pick-Your-Pocket wants to steal your money via a massive tax and wealth transfer.
Also, if we make more oil available on the market, that improves our balance of trade and improves the value of the dollar.