First of all, let me say, “Bring on the high gas prices!” I don’t personally care because I figure the only way you are going to change behavior is to make life painful. Plus, it costs me $13.00 a week to do the 54 mile round trip commute to work every day. I use transit. Second of all, I don’t care if you don’t have the transit option. You live in the country, and the only way you have to get around is your Ford F150. The grocery store is 50 miles away and it costs you a fortune to go there. Get with a neighbor and carpool.
Anyhoooo, to the subject of the post… politicians, (almost exclusively those on the Right) would have you believe that the Alaska National Wildlife Refguge is the solution to all of our problems. I used to believe that too, before I started thinking. (I used to believe a lot of things before I started thinking…) There’s a lot of oil and gas under ANWR. But is it worth drilling? Well, not if the reason you want to drill is to reduce gas prices. Why? Because it just won’t happen.
In order for oil and gas from ANWR to cause an “enough to notice” reduction in gas prices, the way oil is sold and priced would have to completely change for that oil only. When oil is drilled, it is sold on international markets. We pay a market price for the gas and diesel we put into our tanks. Because OPEC produces the vast majority of oil in the world, its limits on production will always affect the price of a barrel – even if that barrel is drilled at ANWR. For gas prices to come down, the companies doing the drilling in ANWR would have to sell their oil directly to the consumer and bypass international markets. That simply ain’t gonna happen. It’s going in the pile with the rest of the world’s oil, to be priced the same as the rest of it, and you’ll still be hurting. If ANWR is opened up to drilling, I’m guessing you might see a nickel drop in the price of a gallon of gas. Is it worth the potential risk of environmental damage to save 50¢ to a buck on a tank of gas?
ANWR is politics, and it’s politics of the most devious kind because depends on ignorance of the way oil and gas is sold in the international marketplace – ignorance that is, unfortunately, far too common.
Also: Speaking of playing politics – Hillary – reducing the Federal gas tax is a stupid idea – not that I expect any more from you.