Graphics do cut to the chase, and this one from Gristmill is no exception. When you hear the reasons why it's silly to expand domestic drilling as the primary solution -- nothing will change until 2020, the overall impact will be negligible -- you can understand the problem intellectually. But the picture hits you in the gut. Policy-wise, the only good reason to support off-shore drilling would be as an incentive to create a compromise bill that invests in alternative and sustainable energy production. It's the kind of compromise that maverick who bucks his party might, well, actually, John McCain rejected this compromise. Oh well. 
--Tim Fernholz
