Oil

Currently the United States imports 57% of the oil we consume. Yet we have enough oil reserves here in the US to supply 100% of our oil needs for 20 or more years. We must do two things at the same time. First, we must open the oil fields that will produce an abundance of cheap oil to immediate, responsible drilling and encourage maximum production. This will do several things for us: 1) increase the supply of oil and decrease the cost of gasoline, diesel fuel, and home heating fuel, giving the average person more money at the end of the month to spend on other things and thus put more Americans back to work; 2) keep more American money here in America instead of sending it to other nations; 3) if we insist that oil companies must use American employees and American made materials in the drilling, piping, etc., of these new wells, we will put many more Americans back to work; 4) it will produce oil revenues for the state and federal government and help reduce the deficit; 5) off the California coast, it will have the additional benefit of reducing pollution by decreasing the amount of oil leaking from oil seeps on the ocean floor. Where there are current wells, the reduction in pressure has stopped the seeping. But where there are no wells, they leak thousands of barrels each year into the ocean. This is much more than is spilled by offshore drilling rigs!

The second thing we must do is supply an incentive for private companies to an alternative fuel for cars, home heating, etc. I think we can do this without spending our taxpayer dollars! For example: we could pass legislation that would give a 20-year monopoly to the individual(s) or company(ies) that develops a cheap (equivalent to $1.50 to $2.00 per gallon of gasoline) way to refine hydrogen. The same for whoever develops an efficient storage system that enables most vehicles to have a 300 to 400 mile cruising range. An incentive can also be given for better all-electric cars. These incentives would create a flurry of private enterprise activity and investment without any taxpayer dollars being spent.