"Drill Here, Drill Now" is a know-nothing, knee-jerk slogan thought up by know-nothing, knee-jerk Newt Gingrich, Republican scam artist of "Contract For America" fame. And we all know how well that worked out, don't we? "Drill Here, Drill Now" depends on the ignorance of busy Americans of the basic facts and math of the Oil Business. The REAL issue is not our dependence on "Foreign Oil" as the powers-that-be have been telling us for the last 32 years. The real problem is our economy's dependence on a finite, dwindling (not to mention filthy) energy source. Period. Allowing ourselves to be distracted and side tracked by petroleum dollar greased politicians and Oil lobbyists into endless arguments about ways to bring back the good ol' days of cheap oil is like watching a starving man argue with himself over whether a steak dinner or a lobster dinner would be better.... if he had access to a steak or a lobster.
The reality is that with less than 2% of the world's oil supply under American soil, the US can not even begin to supply our own needs for oil at the current rate of consumption, never mind future needs. Not even if we close our eyes and wish really, really hard. It doesn't matter how hard we argue, nor how simplistic our arguments are, we cannot get around that basic real-world fact. But can we ameliorate our price crunch at the pumps even temporarily by drilling for more oil in American soil or waters? No. It is also a real world fact that it will take any new drilling and pumping program a minimum of 10 years to begin to come on line, and a further 10 years to get fully up to speed. Another real-world fact is that the amount of American oil at it's fastest flow pumped into the energy market would create a 3 to 4 CENT PER GALLON drop in price at the pump... in 2030. These aren't republican style "facts" pulled out of the nearest available orifice to bolster my argument. These are scientifically established facts supplied by scientific and governmental report. Not even the Bush administration with it's "faith-based" approach to science has been able to hide from the reality of these facts. So they just pretend that the facts don't have anything to do with the argument they are making.
Here's the elevator answer to "Drill Here, Drill Now" know-nothingism: "Drill Here, Drill Now" would have the same kind of effect on oil prices that you would have on your water bill if you ran a water hose from your house out to the nearest reservoir and turned the faucet on full blast. A) the amount of water that you could add to the reservoir is so small that it would make no real difference in the amount of water in the reservoir. And B) the water that you're sending out to the reservoir isn't your water, it's water that you paid the water company to pump and send to you.
These are the 2 points of understanding that too many Americans fail to grasp. And the oil greased lobbyists and their pet Republicans are doing everything they can to distract your attention from these facts. The first is that there is not enough American oil supply to affect the price of oil in any significant way on the global oil market. The second fact is that American oil does not belong to the American people. It belongs to the Oil Companies that lease the oil fields from our government. Let me repeat that: IT IS NOT OUR OIL! The Oil Companies and our government pretend that they are simply leasing out the use of unused American government owned land-at a fraction of what the land is worth. But the reality is that our government is selling the oil under that land to the Oil Companies for a tiny, tiny fraction of what that oil is worth, and the Oil Companies are then free to pump out and sell the oil to the highest bidder at a fantastic profit.
Paris Hilton was (sort of) right. Obviously we cannot continue to run our economy on petroleum based energy. Equally obviously we cannot change to a renewable energy economy at the flip of a switch tomorrow. And in the interim we will , of necessity, be dependent on oil, including foreign sources of oil, to keep our economy running until the new American sources of renewable energy and the infrastructure to deliver it are widely available. However, given the reality of the amount of American oil available and the timeframe for bringing it to market (not to mention the astronomical costs and the taxpayer subsidies that would go with the project) they are , in effect, distracting us with an argument over the merits of steak versus lobster.
So, why are we having this argument about whether to drill for American oil in order to bring prices down at the pump (steak) or to prohibit offshore drilling (lobster)? First of all, it's important to remember that this is not Republicans arguing with Democrats. This is Republicans arguing with themselves, and assigning the con argument ("Some say...") to the mean ol' Democrats who obviously WANT you to be forced to give up your firstborn at the pump for a few measly gallons of gas.
The Republicans are blaming the Democrats for refusing to allow the Oil Companies to drill offshore, and expecting you not to know or care that it was the Republican President George H.W. Bush that signed an executive order banning further offshore drilling. The current Bush has signed a new executive order recinding his Dad's order. (Hm... two oil men presidents, the first prevents offshore drilling while the price of oil is low, the second comes along and opens up offshore drilling 20 years later when the price of oil is very high... just how much will these two oilmen profit?) The Republicans further expect that you will neither know nor care that there are already 68 million acres of American oil fields, both on and offshore, that are currently leased to various Oil Companies, and that the Oil Companies are free to start drilling on any time they care to start building the platforms. There is NOTHING to stop the Oil Companies from starting to build, right now! Not even the mean ol' lobster-hugging Democrats. As the Democrats have pointed out. The Democrats aren't blameless, but while they may not be helping the Republicans with this scam, they surely aren't trying to prevent the Oil Companies from drilling on their current lease sites. They even tried to pass a bill that said the Oil Companies HAD to start drilling on their lease sites or lose them, and the Republicans prevented passage of the bill.
The Republicans think they're on to a good election year issue, and they aren't going to let a little thing like being offered the very thing they are demanding (Drill Here, Drill Now) stop them from scamming it right to the top of the election year agenda. The Republicans want you to A) believe that there is a simple solution to your pain at the gas pump, B) believe that it is the Democrats and their snotty environmentalist friends who are depriving you of the cheap gas that is your God-given right, C) they want to be seen as the only party that is trying to solve your gas price problem, and that you WILL have cheap gas again soon if you will only re-elect them. ( Just as an aside, guess just how likely it is that any Republican driven solution will be honest, effective and competently carried out? Seen New Orleans lately? ) And D) they don't want you looking too closely at the way they do business with the Oil Companies. The Oil Companies have already spent $55 Million in lobbying politicians this year so far, and another $83 Million last year. Gee, wonder how many oil rigs they could have started building already with $135 Million? And don't forget the $5 BILLION in tax breaks that the Republican controlled Congress rammed through in the last energy bill. What was their latest quarterly profit? Oh yes, $11 BILLION in the last 3 months, and in the 3 months before that!
So what IS the Oil Companies' part in all this? Puppet string pullers, mostly. Why are they concerned with getting their hands on yet more American lands/ waters for drilling, given that they already have 68 million unused acres awaiting their pleasure? It's reasonable to assume that oil prices will be going up and up and up in the future (there are several reasons why this is true, not least that the vastly expanding economies of huge countries like India and China are competing with the US for the same source of energy. So, the oil prices are going up, and the Oil Companies reasonably want to secure as much of that finite source for their own future profit while they can get it at dirt cheap prices. They're trying mightily to secure new leases that they will keep in reserve until prices really soar while their buddies George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are still in a position to help them get those leases. The foxes will be leaving the henhouse in January 2009 and the oil companies are desperately trying to steal as many eggs as they can carry away, before the new sheriff comes into town and bars the door to the coop.
It's not hard to understand this stuff, nor is it particularly complex, once you have tall the facts. That's why the Republicans are trying so hard to distract you with arguments over steak or lobster and stupid (but easy to remember!) know-nothing slogans like "Drill Here, Drill Now". Given our long experience with Republican Rule, the Republican Party motto ought to be "Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain!"
Maybe the Democrats' new catchy slogan ought to be " It's Not the Oil, Stupid!"