Independence Again
This Presidential campaign is full of controversial and vital issues, one of which is energy independence. With the recent surge of gas prices and the growing concern for global health, it has proved to be an issue that is to be addressed immediately by the future president. There is just one problem. The politicians in Washington and, yes, even the candidates, seem to forget that the road to energy independence is not a straight shot, but a systematic process. This process will involve a wider spectrum of resources and technology than what is currently being used.
Use of alternative energy sources in a commercial scale could be anywhere from four to fifteen years away. In the meantime, America needs to use the resources available to help the problem as soon as possible. The statistics from the Energy Information Administration in 2006 show that the United States leads world oil consumption, about 24%, but that it produces not even half of that domestically (“Alternative Energy Incentives”). It is safe to assume that America is overly dependent on the foreign trade of oil. Weaning ourselves from this addiction is simple: move towards home! Oil companies in the United States have over 68 million acres of land that are not being searched or developed right now, over half of which is offshore (my.barackobama.com). With the end of the 27-year moratorium on offshore drilling on September 30 of this year (audubon.org/campaign/energy), we can finally get to those offshore reserves that we couldn't get to before. Those reserves hold not only oil, but natural gas as well. "The Outer Continental Shelf alone contains 77 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas (johnmccain.com)." This could open up realms of possibility for electricity, which would take the burden off oil and put it to better use in our vehicles.
The next step that the President must take in the road to energy independence is to further develop technologies that we...