Short term- we’ve seen 3 consecutive days the ppb of light crude dropping considerably just because Bush lifted his executive moratorium on offshore drilling. If Congress lifted theirs we would see a dramatic and immediate change in the price of oil as it would shock the futures trade considerably.

Long term- It would alleviate burden of high prices somewhat while we searched for and developed new renewable energy sources. It would be a few years before we saw any significant oil production from the area but it might protect our children from paying for our inaction.

Bottom line we might see considerable change now and for years to come, we might not. BUT, if we don’t allow exploration and drilling it is certain that we will not, I would at least like there to be a chance.

I don’t know.. I’m almost sure it’s a tactic from bush to make the democrats look bad so people vote for mccain. maybe there’s a valid reason the dems don’t want to(though I think it’s a ***** that they keep turning it down..), but it seems to me like bush is trying to play SOMETHING….just not too sure..

Much more that doing nothing. It may in fact it could have some immediate impact on speculation that may well be one of the reason for the out of control crude prices.

Before we let our people go hungry and our infrastructure crumble I would dill on the east lawn of the white house.

It’s time to develop a strategy to assure energy independence. That plan should be bold and wide sweeping to be successful. Start drilling, build Nuclear plants and refineries, and invest in a program to find new clean sources not controlled by the oil giants. Tell Al Gore and friends to get in the fight or go home and turn of the lights until someone who cares gets the job done.

I can remember when gas was less than 20cents a gallon. When it went over a dollar a gallon, it pretty much stayed there. It dipped down a few times, but over all we got used to paying a lot and the oil companies just kept the price up. Offshore drilling will not have much of a real impact on current prices. Even if we have more crude oil though drilling how are we going to refine it? We are in desperate need of new refineries. I don’t believe there has been a new one built in over 30 years. I believe that since the prices have escalated to around 4 bucks a gallon the big oil companies will make sure we get used to paying through the nose. Watch, no matter what happens to the price of crude oil, prices won’t ever drop more than 50 or 60 cents a gallon.

I saw on the news tonight that government reports say we won’t see any benefit from this for 2 decades. Considering Bush ignored this issue completely, we could have already had a head start on drilling and researching for alternative energy. Almost 8 years is too little too late.

The only reason congress is holding back is they have millions of dollars tied up in oil stocks and they don’t want the bottom to fall out and loose their money, they could care less what we have to pay at the pump. Always remember it’s all about the money.

But back many years ago just the talk of drilling in protected areas promoted OPEC to raise production and cut prices. You will also see the oil speculators get their ***** out of raping the country with inflated oil prices.

And one last thing is we had started drilling back in the 80’s we mite not be facing the prices we are seeing at the pump right now, and the cost of getting the oil out of the ground will even go higher the longer we wait.

None whatsoever.

Even Bush has stated that it would take nearly a decade or more to access the reserves.

The official figure I hear is that it it would at most lower prices by 25 cents a gallon……when we do finally get it.

We already have domestic drilling in this country, and that has not stopped those producers from price gouging and selling to the highest bidder (i.e. China and India) either.

Furthermore, at our current rate of consumption, there’s only enough oil in the offshore reserves to last for an estimated 3 years.

I don’t think it will have much of an effect. Supply is being intentionally kept lower by oil producing countries and they could increase production if they wanted, or lower it further.

Besides, we don’t know what the supply and demand situation will be by the time they would have production from those sites, so it’s really almost impossible to say with certainty how it would affect prices.

Only and uniformed idiot would claim that prices went up because of so called “Big Oil”. Yes the Drilling will have an effect and yes it will take time. But better that than the empty promises of the democrats energy plan. That has no new oil production and a reliance on alternative energy sources that would not be ready on a mass scale for decades from today

Only a bit. I honestly doubt that even if we were able to start drilling today that it would have any substantial effect on the price of oil. If and that’s a BIG if it would take years to see the effects. The fact is that there is simply a high demand for it.One reason prices are what they are is because of speculation. China also has an ever increasing demand for oil and is expected to continue to have one for the next few decades. There is only a finite supply of oil so that tells you that prices are just going to keep on going up.