Editorials

Consumers finally have a bit of breathing room on fuel prices, but setting the issue aside would be a serious mistake.

Congress must take action now to help prevent more pain at the pump and unwise reliance on foreign sources of oil.

"Unless the U.S. Congress removes restrictions on domestic oil production, unprecedented U.S. fuel prices will likely continue, the damaging effects now rippling throughout our economy," the Texas Public Policy Foundation says in a new report. "Unless the U.S. reduces dependence on unstable, if not inimical, foreign sources of oil, a grave peril to our national security will deepen."

Global oil supplies remain limited.

"Global demand, led by developing giants China and India, is predicted to grow," the Foundation reports. "Although soaring prices over the last six months have led to reduced U.S. consumption, world supply remains tight, with a minute reserve capacity."

But for other factors, the price of oil isn't rising as steadily as was once feared.

"Earlier predictions that crude oil may reach as high as $150-$200 per barrel by year's end look less likely as prohibitive prices reduce consumption, supply disruptions improve, and prospects of increased production improve," the Foundation notes.

But the fundamental facts remain: supply is tight and demand is high. The only way to keep prices low is to increase the supply -- particularly of domestic oil. What's stopping us? Misguided environmental policies.

"Since the early 1970s, policies driven by a now-entrenched environmental establishment have restricted exploration and production of domestic crude oil," the Foundation says. "The policies are today outdated, unrealistic, and overwhelmed by the needs of national security and economic stability. Three decades of opposition to oil development in the Arctic National Refuge (ANWR) approaches the preposterous."

Drilling on only 2,000 of ANWR's 19.5 million acres would produce enough oil to roughly equal all U.S. imports from the belligerent Venezuela.

Similarly, the United States could increase domestic production from plentiful offshore reserves on the outer-continental shelf.

"On July 14, President Bush lifted the executive ban on off-shore exploration and drilling. Congressional inaction remains the sole obstacle," the Foundation says. "The Democratic leadership in both chambers of the U.S. Congress have gone to extraordinary lengths to prevent even a straight vote on bills to remove barriers to more domestic production."

It's time for action. The congressional bans on offshore drilling will expire on Sept. 30, unless Congress votes to extend them.

"Repeated polls show that 75 percent of the voting public supports eliminating the bans.

Growing numbers of Democratic members of Congress express support for increased production," the Foundation reports. "In Florida, a state long opposed to off-shore drilling, Gov. Charlie Crist now supports the endeavor."

Congress must listen to the American people and reject calls to renew those bans.

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