Time to break reliance on oil

In the last year, oil companies have taken about $610 in extra profits from every American driver, hurting working families and draining our economy. Now the oil companies are using their record profits to launch multimillion dollar ad campaigns to push for more drilling, while neglecting to mention that opening our beaches to drilling won't lower gas prices. The Energy Information Administration reported that drilling has increased 75 percent since Bush took office, but gas prices have shot up over 250 percent during that same time. This pattern will not change. The bottom line is that drilling only benefits Big Oil, Bush, and their allies in Congress, not the American people. The only way to provide relief to consumers from high gas prices is to provide them with choices other than Exxon or Shell. We need to embrace American ingenuity and innovative technologies such as plug-in electric hybrids that will create jobs, drive the economy, and break our addiction to oil once and for all.

Saroni M. Lasker

Aurora