The US has not had a rational energy policy for many years. Instead we created energy legislation focused on conservation and citing energy independence as the principle cause. Some legislation focused on protecting the environment primarily by creating moratoria over designated geographic areas. This effectively blocked drilling along the entire eastern and western offshore areas, areas on land and offshore northern Alaska, parts of the Gulf of Mexico and vast areas of federally owned land. As the country s oil requirement grew so too did our need to import oil. Oil prices also grew and the...

The US has not had a rational energy policy for many years. Instead we created energy legislation focused on conservation and citing energy independence as the principle cause. Some legislation focused on protecting the environment primarily by creating moratoria over designated geographic areas. This effectively blocked drilling along the entire eastern and western offshore areas, areas on land and offshore northern Alaska, parts of the Gulf of Mexico and vast areas of federally owned land. As the country s oil requirement grew so too did our need to import oil. Oil prices also grew and the...