I find it curious that Democrats are being blamed for the problems of a lack of refineries and drilling in the U.S., considering that both Congress and the Presidency were controlled by the GOP for six years under President Bush.
According to
wtrg.com, the first signs of these problems began as early as 1999, and by 2001, became more and more prevalent.
"Prices began to recover in early 1999 and OPEC reduced production another 1.719 million barrels in April. As usual not all of the quotas were observed but between early 1998 and the middle of 1999 OPEC production dropped by about 3 million barrels per day and was sufficient to move prices above $25 per barrel."
Given that these problems began in 1999, and have grown worse since, shouldn't the GOP, which had control of the gov't at the time, made the necessary preparations.
This is exacerbated by the issue of building times for new drills and new refineries.
To begin drilling in ANWR would take at least 9 years to build the necessary infrastructure to drill, as explained in an article by
MSNBC.
So, shouldn't the GOP, knowing how long it would take to build oil wells, have taken the necessary precautions?
I don't see how you can blame the Democrats for this problem, given that the GOP could have fixed the problem years ago, but chose not to.
Perhaps because they realized that drilling in ANWR just isn't worth it. Most studies state that at best, it would only reduce the price of oil by 50-75 cents, which would have a minor affect on gas. Furthermore, we would still need to import about 2/3s of our oil, so we would hardly be energy independent. Buy into the environment or not, domestic oil accidents have happened, and will happen. Considering how much it would cost to build the oil-wells there, how little it would help, and the risks it entails, perhaps even the GOP (at the time) realized it was a bad decision. Now, it seems like little more than a speech-act to get the votes of the populace when price of gas is so high (similiar to the stupid gas-tax holiday idea).
I agree that we need to become energy independent, but ANWR isn't going to make that happen by any stretch of the imagination. I agree that alternative-energy is a pipe-dream with no conclusive track-record, and very poor energy/econ ratios, so I don't think that is the solution either.