Drill, don't tap

Gas fell to a "reasonable" $3.58 a gallon last week. Still, few consumers expect any sort of long-term relief from prices that recently topped $4 a gallon.

The U.S. began thinking about "energy independence" in the 1970s, when a lack of supply in our markets led to then-record prices, gas lines and, in some cases, no gas available at any cost. People recognized supply was the issue - and Americans began thinking about ways to increase our supply. It seemed fortunate then - perhaps less so now - but oil-producing nations loosened the spigots - and we quit talking.

The problem is back. This time, it looks permanent. The cost of oil affects us all, at the gas pump and in the increased prices we all pay for food and everything else that requires gas to transport it to market - everything. Most Americans know we need to address this problem, and the sooner we do, the better.

No one silver bullet exists. We could drive less, and many of us do. We could look for ways to deal with the eventual need to replace oil as the driving force in our economy - and, again, that has begun. In the short term, however, getting more oil is the key to helping lower the prices we're paying at the pump.

Competing proposals have surfaced in Congress. Republicans and a growing number of Democrats want to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration and drilling. Democratic leaders last week proposed tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Critics of either proposal will be quick to point out the relatively minor impact either would have on gas prices. But no one should expect any magical potion to drive prices back to $1 a gallon, or even $2. Just pushing down prices to more reasonable levels - and doing so on a long-term basis - should be the priority.

The Republicans' proposal would do that. The Democratic suggestion is feel-good rhetoric that would do little to address gas prices for the long term.

The White House recently sponsored a trip to Alaska for House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, and freshmen Republicans. Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, and Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, were among those on the trip. Jordan and Latta both said that opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling would be a short-term and intermediate-term solution.

The 19-million acre refuge is in the northeast corner of Alaska, covering an area about the size of South Carolina. The coastal plain encompasses about 1.5 million acres, of which those wanting to drill propose developing about 2,000 acres, or 3.13 square miles. Some 10.4 billion barrels of oil could be extracted. Environmentalists predictably say wildlife and plant life would be put at risk by drilling from development and oil spills.

No matter where one drills, the risk for a spill is going to be there. But, improvements in technology have shrunk the surface footprint of oil drilling while allowing for greater exploration under the ground, Jordan said. The environmentalists might consider that most Alaskan lawmakers over the last 25 years have favored opening the wildlife refuge, as do most Alaskans today.

Jordan also believes the federal government saying it would open the refuge would have a psychological effect on the market, driving down prices as the U.S. showed a seriousness about tapping our own natural resources.

Opponents also say the oil wouldn't be on the market for a decade. Maybe it wouldn't be, but Jordan believes advancing technologies might shorten the delay. But, even in another decade, will the cost of a gallon of gas have gone down on its own? No? Then surely all those alternative energies will be up and running at full steam, ending our reliance on oil to drive the world's largest economy, right? Again, no.

This country needs more oil, at least for now. Even the Democrats acknowledge this in proposing to tap into the strategic reserve. Their plan might even work quicker to lower prices - but only for the month the reserve could sustain the U.S., the Colorado Springs (Colo.) Gazette reported. Then, we'd go back to using foreign-produced oil to fill the nation's emergency reserves. Imagine the spike in demand and prices as the federal government stood in line with the rest of us trying to fill its tanks.

Opening the strategic reserve is not the answer. Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is.