... as we cannot truly establish independence from foreign Oil Suppliers even if we explored and leveraged Coastal sources and Proven Reserves. *** Important Note *** OIL COMPANIES ARE NOT THE ENEMY. THEY ARE LEGITIMATE PROVIDERS OF A PRODUCT AT A REASONABLE PRICE. The facts are

• Exploring, Drilling and Refining the 25 - 30 billion barrels of Oil Reserves: Reported Reserves are sufficient to maintain our current Daily Consumption for a little more than 4 years (20 mb/day). Proponents of depleting what is effectively America's safety-net against the whims the Saudi Arabia and leading exporters is not a sound strategy. The loud and repetitive refrain of Conservatives to "Domestically Explore, Drill & Refine" our way out of a dependency of foreign oil seems to lose its voice when the simple question, "Then What?", is tabled. The response is the tried & true approach of Light Reasoning, Weighted Hubris, & Nurturing a Hatred of a Perceived Enemy which typically follows this course:

"We're Americans. As such, our ideal principles of limited government and the free market have & will respond to the needs of the people. It is The Liberal who will try to convince you that Big Government must come in and save the day with regulations and more taxes. No. What we need is less government, more exploration, more domestic refineries, more jobs for good Americans and getting the government the hell out of the way".

This argument is built upon the premise that Oil Companies will act in the best interest of the consumer through the innovation of alternative means of fuel, whereby American consumers will cease to use and be dependent on the product sold.... Ridiculous. What would compel any company to advance towards its demise.

The US currently relies upon almost 500,000 Oil Wells to produce approximately 8 mb/day, satisfying almost 40% if our daily consumption. If we were to bring on-line, today, enough platforms to extract the estimated 25 - 30B barrels we would only begin a steady walk towards depleting THE ONLY safety-net we have.

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