Since July 13th we have been reporting on the vast potential of oil deposits in Rocky Mountains shale. It is estimated that the oil there -- 2 trillion barrels -- is twice as much as all the oil used in the world since the first oil discovery way back in 1859.
President Bush has just now issued an executive order opening up 2 million acres of public lands in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado to oil shale exploration. Rocky Mountains shale could make the U.S. independent of hostile and unstable oil producers for decades.
As Hugh Hewitt wonders, will this opportunity be seized upon by the Obama Administration or killed for ideological reasons at the expense of energy national security?
The same Democratic anti-drilling ideology may also block the development of the huge natural gas field in Alaska that the pipeline the Palin Administration has authorized could link to the lower 48. This gas could heat 100 million American homes for a decade.
The United States and the rest of the world will need oil and natural gas for decades to come. It will take many years to develop alternatives to fossil fuels to the point where they are a complete substitute for fossil fuels. The only rational course for the U.S. is to utilize all of its energy options. National energy security demands no less.
Energy Independence is within our reach. But let's not forget why we are reaching for it.
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