Drill or not to Drill

For a long time now America has been plagued with the high price of fuel and energy resources. Fueling our vehicles is getting near $4.00 a gallon and shows no sign of decreasing anytime soon. Americans have decided to go with the more educated and "green" route, by searching for alternative sources of energy. However, I believe that our time to stop, ponder, and decide which path we should take has run out. Right now, as Newt Gingrich put it, we need a quick fix and we "need relief now" (Now Public.com). While no call we make this late in the game will be the perfect play, waiting to find a solution that is could be devastating. Waiting any longer would force us to be even more dependent on foreign countries and corrupt governments for sources of energy (if it is even possible to become any more dependent than we currently are).

The main solution that America's elected officials have been debating, more this decade than ever before, is starting a development in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Reserve). This would help us by allowing our country to rely more on ourselves for oil and other sources of energy; proving to Saudi Arabia that if they keep driving up their prices, we can get oil somewhere else. However, there are many other, excellent reasons for drilling in ANWR:

First of all, if you are listening to people who argue that the Alaskans do not want people to start a development up there, they are false. At least 75% of Alaskans support a development of the Coastal Plain in ANWR.

Another argument that many cling to is the fact that ANWR is exactly as its name dictates -- a wildlife reserve. All of America's environmentalists and Al Gore's green folk don't want to hurt any of the animals or other part of the environment in ANWR. Here are numbers and statistics as far as hurting ANWR go:

ANWR consists of about 19 million acres. The amount that we need for development in ANWR is only 1.5 million acres. If oil or other natural resources are found (and come on people, they will be) only 2000 of that original 1.5 million acres will be needed. After doing all of the computing, the most amount of ANWR that will be affected is less than a measly .5%. And if you still doubt that there is any oil in ANWR, the Dept. of the Interior believes there to be between 9 to 16 million barrels of oil in the Coastal Plain on ANWR. That would make ANWR second only to the Prudhoe Bay oil discovery (about 25 million barrels were found) in America.

Lastly, developing ANWR would result in a financial boost for EVERYONE. If development in ANWR commences, and estimated 250,000 to 735,000 jobs will be available. Our economy will undoubtedly have its never-ceasing thirst for revenue quenched, as America would have to rely on foreign countries for oil. Even better, fuel prices would be greatly affected of the developing of ANWR. United States Representative Michele Bachmann believes that if we were able to begin the development of ANWR that gas prices could be cut in half. I mean, what's wrong with a little extra cash in your pocket?

Alternative sources of energy are an excellent idea: they are clean, very green, and eco-friendly. However, times are desperate and money is running short. We need to act right now by taking advantage of all the resources possible, and that means we NEED to drill in ANWR. To support Newt Gingrich's "Drill here. Drill Now. Pay Less" plan for lower gas prices in the U.S., sign his petition by following the link below. Over 1,400,000 people have already signed!!!

http://www.americansolutions.com/

Below are some of the pages and articles I used in the making of this post:

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/america-must-drill-oil-home

http://www.anwr.org/People/Alaskans-Support-Development.php

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7039005&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1