OK, drill Alaska. By the time the price-gouging hits us like that, we'll have our own supply.
That, and a democratic Iraq would be more inclined to drop rates for it's biggest ally.
Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, and off the coast of California. There is much oil out there.
Let's suppose that a lot of oil was found by drilling in ANWAR. That might help our balance of payments problem, but it's not clear to me that it would reduce the price of gas and other petroleum products to the individual user. Since oil is a fungible commodity, it has a price that is determined by world markets. Oil companies drilling in ANWAR are not going to just give away the oil to the U.S. They are going to sell it to the highest bidder.
Unless enough oil was found to significantly increase world supplies, it's not clear to me that the price of gas would drop very much if we had ANWAR oil.
I'm of the opinion that Iraq ought to pay us back for every dime spent to free them in the form of FREE oil...