Bush Lifts Ban on Offshore Drilling, but Does Nothing to Save Americans Money at the Pump

Gas prices have reached absurdly high levels, everyone can agree on that. The solution to this national emergency, however, is a debate that has divided this Congress along party lines and distinguished environmental champions from profit seeking oil cronies.

President Bush has made his position clear over these past 8 years, and today he takes a step further in support of Big Oil to repeal the executive ban put into place by his father on offshore drilling.

His misguided resolution is one that has grave long-term effects, but fails to deliver any short-term relief for Americans at the pump.

The help that our nation needs to get out of this energy crisis comes in a plan backed by facts that will release Big Oil’s strangling grip on our wallets and protect us and our environment from the harmful consequences of over drilling.
The reality is that America’s supply (less than 3% of world oil reserves) can't possibly keep up with our demand (25% of world oil consumption). A few drops of oil, up to a decade away from making it to market, cannot alleviate our pain at the pump.
As it is, suppliers of oil and gas are sitting on almost 70 million acres of proven reserves, over 40 million of which are offshore. The have permission to drill there, but aren’t. As long as gas prices continue to rise, so does the value of those reserves.

America needs consumer choices, innovations to fuel our ingenuity, and alternatives that will cut our addiction to oil and put jobs and money back into the hands of working families. Short term relief will come in eliminating the record profits of Big Oil, cutting their money saving subsidies, and giving rebates to those who have been hurting most from high gas prices.

Stop rising costs at the pump by knowing which solution will deliver results. Protect our environment from irresponsible drilling, and rescue America from our energy crisis.

To read the AP article on Bush's lift of the executive ban on offshore drilling, which cites LCV President Gene Karpinski, go here.