sg,
you highlighted the three big points that have been stuck in my head over this:
1) The oil companies already have leases for other land and offshore areas but, instead, Bush would rather use taxpayer money to pay for this and add even more to oil companies' bottom lines.
2) These opportunities included literally millions of acres of areas for them to explore so, it's not like they need more right away.
3) It will take YEARS before any oil would hit the market. I was listening to a fund manager talk on CNN this morning. He projected that, even if more offshore drilling were to be approved, it would be 5-10 years before any of that oil made it to market and would result in a decrease of about fifty cents per gallon. Who knows what a gallon of gas might cost by then but, would it be worth our expending time, money and resources drilling for more oil (which is declining as a resource) or should we bite the bullet and work on alternatives that will wean us off of oil?
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