OPINION: Why Not Drill?

One quick way to put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work is by opening up more areas for oil and gas drilling.

That would also bring in billions of federal revenue, decrease our dependence on foreign oil, and lower the price of gasoline.

But President Obama’s Interior Department just announced a new five-year plan for where offshore drilling will be allowed—and were it will NOT be.

The East and West Coasts remain off-limits. They denied Virginia’s official request to allow drilling off its shores. The story is similar in Alaska, where existing areas stay open, but not new areas that show immense promise. And the fabled mineral wealth of ANWR remains closed.

Even where the feds say it’s okay, companies still have to get drilling permits, and both environmentalists and bureaucrats make that a long and tedious process.

From The Heritage Foundation, I’m Ernest Istook.

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