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It’s Not the Quick Fix We’re After, Here.

Ben Castlemen at the WSJ [1] this morning points out that lifting the drilling ban would not be an immididate fix for our situation.

If the bans were lifted tomorrow, it would be at least seven years — and likely as long as a decade — before the first oil began to flow off the coasts of Florida, California and the eastern seaboard.

I have to admit being a little annoyed that we’re still fixated on a quick fix for our oil problems.  THe claim that the fix wasn’t going to be fast enough is exactly why Bubba claimed he wasn’t going to drillin in ANWR, remember? We see where THAT got us.

Look, gang, there’s no question we’re going to have a rough few years where Energy is concerned. This is simply one more price that has come due, resulting from Bill clinton being President, and too many Republicans bowing to the Al Gores of the world.  It’s time to bite the bullet, and start drilling.

It’s not all bad, however, for the short term.

One of the things history shows us about OPEC, is that they tend to raise output, and thus lower prices, in an attempt to price out any new field that comes online, to make them unprofitable.  That’s what happened back when the Alaska pipeline first went in. So the effects of our committing to drilling domstically, will be nearly immididate.  The recent uipping of output by the Saudis proves that they’re not lacking for more capacity than they’re using, and so are quite likely to repeat their monopolistic move of the early 80’s.

It’s on that basis that I’ve been saying and continue to say, that all it’s going to take is commitment to domestic drilling on our part… and we’re going back to $80/bbl territory. I’d suggest we will be starting down that slope by midsummer… and I see nothing on the horizon yet to change that view.

It’s Voter anger that is going to change our direction.  Anger against the bowing to the enviro-nazis, and the anti-oil types. These people would have us back with cart and horse. The voters now have a full understanding of that, now that the price is up, and because that price is directly related to the policies they’ve been shoving down American’s throat the last 30 years.

John McCain seems to have the upper hand here as the result, having reacted almost correctly to that anger.  I’ve been saying that the party that commits to domestic drilling and refining will have this next election in hand. Again I say, McCain’s reaction isn’t perfect; (He’s sill holding out on ANWR, though he should not be.)  But the offshore stuff has placed the blame for the lack of solution sqaurely where it belongs… at the feet of the Democrats.  THe trick here is going to be keeping the pressure on.