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In all the talk of drilling, there have been far too few numbers attached to what drilling would actually mean for as prices. But that's not because the numbers don't exist. It's because they're not politically helpful to those who favor drilling. Elizabeth Kolbert reports:
The Department of Energy estimates that there are eighteen billion barrels of technically recoverable oil in offshore areas of the continental United States that are now closed to drilling. This sounds like a lot, until you consider that oil is a globally traded commodity and that, at current rates of consumption, eighteen billion barrels would satisfy less than seven months of global demand. A D.O.E. report issued last year predicted that it would take two decades for drilling in restricted areas to have a noticeable effect on domestic production, and that, even then, “because oil prices are determined on the international market,” the impact on fuel costs would be “insignificant.”Kolbert goes on to argue that "if the hard truth is that the federal government can’t do much to lower gas prices, the really hard truth is that it shouldn’t try to." The more oil we burn, the more carbon we emit. Making gas cheaper, in other words, accelerates global warming -- a more irresponsible outcome is hard to imagine. At one point, McCain knew this perfectly well. He introduced cap-and-trade legislation that would increase fossil fuel prices in order to cut total demand. his measure was defeated in the Senate, 43 to 55. “It’s a combination of the utilities and the coal companies and automobile manufacturers—an unholy alliance of special interests that have made it a top priority to prevent any action being taken," fumed McCain. “How much damage will have been done before we act?”
