Ban on drilling for oil must be lifted

Lifting the drilling ban on the outer continental shelves and other areas is a necessary action to provide a bridge to the future when the various alternative energy techniques can be rolled out to any significant extent. As a nation we must do all of the talked about alternative energy technologies. However, with 270-plus million cars and millions of diesel powered trucks dependent on liquid fuels it will be decades before petroleum based fuels will become a minor fuel source.

I agree that we cannot drill our way out of this crisis. However, drilling and the availability of U.S.-sourced petroleum has the potential of converting the situation from an acute crisis to a vexing problem or to an economic irritant. From the standpoint of national security, balance of payment, and national economic health we must reduce our dependence on foreign sources. Yes, the other global developing economies will probably buy what we do not buy on the global market, but it will reduce the pressure on the global supply and thus move the supply-demand situation in the direction of price reduction.

I find the claim that no oil will be available for 10-20 years to be a scare tactic (it used to be 5 years, then increased to 10 years, now 20 years). Without question this lag time may be correct for areas off New Jersey and other states where essentially no seismic or exploratory drilling has been done. However, for those banned areas which are adjacent to existing producing fields I know for a fact that the geological structure that is producing the oil does not stop at the politically-drawn line. A well drilled one mile on the banned side of the line will be in production within a year or so. All of the infrastructure needed to move the oil to market is already in place. Within 2-5 years we could be producing hundreds of thousands of barrels per day if not millions of barrels per day.

It will take decades and trillions of dollars to replace the liquid fuels infrastructure and vehicles that have been put into place over the last 100 years. We will need all of it, nuclear, solar, biofuel, coal, etc. in the future. But drilling and petroleum based fuels are necessary to get us from here to there.

Douglas Dallmer

Naperville