Questions and Answers on What to Do About Oil and Energy

Answering questions posed by the media during an election campaign is like shouting down a well. Responses never seem to sink in. The same questions are asked over and over.

Question: Won't McCain's plan to increase offshore drilling lower gas prices soon?

Answer: No. The Energy Department's own Energy Information Administration admits offshore drilling will affect gas prices only many years from now, and even then would have a negligible effect on prices.

Question: Why is that?

Answer: It takes years to get oil out of the ground, then refined and into fuel we can use. Also, don't forget that oil is a global market, so any additional oil American companies pump out of the ground merely adds to global supplies. This may slow the inevitable rise in global prices (as global demand exceeds global supply), but it won't do much of anything for us here in the US. We take the environmental risk; we share the tiny benefits with the rest of the world. The only long-term answer to our energy problem is to reduce our dependence on oil.