There is a new line of argument that I take for those who say we should not even start drilling for our reserves until other reserves in other countries are used up:
Let’s say it takes 5 years minimum for new drilling to produce usable stuff. That 5 years is used to set up all of the infrastructure. Would it be smarter to drill NOW and cap off the wells until we want to use them or would it be smarter to wait until the reserves are gone and then begin to drill?
What do you think would happen to the price of gas until the drilling is complete? What would happen to this country’s productivity? It is just insane that we continue to wait to at least begin to drill.
Most experts agree that most of the 5-7 years it would take to pump new oil would be caused by environmentalist filing court actions against the drilling. IN reality if we were on a “war plan” we could have operational rigs pumping in less than one year. Once we started pumping our own oil we would not run out for about 200 years. We could become a major oil exporter. We then could be dictating foreign policy to the Muslims and not worry about the radical extremists.