Mid Rivers Newsmagazine Letters To The Editor

Mid Rivers Newsmagazine is St. Charles County's exclusive direct-mailed community newspaper.

Drill now

To the editor:

As gas prices continue to increase, Congress continues to blame others while ignoring practical steps to stop the pain Americans are feeling at the pump. To lower gasoline prices and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, we need real solutions to our energy challenges.

A Web site collecting names to petition Congress is “Drill here. Drill now. Pay less. A real change campaign to lower your gas prices.” It is at americansolutions.com.

Gasoline, diesel, natural gas and aviation fuel prices are at all-time highs. Americans are being forced to change their lifestyles to make up for additional expenses as a result of the high price at the pump.

The United States has an estimated 1.8 trillion barrels of oil off its coasts as well as in northern Alaska and the Rocky Mountains; this amount is 3 times greater than the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia.

Seventy-three percent of Americans support drilling in presently restricted areas of the United States if it is done in an environmentally-friendly way.

Recent advances in technology now protect against major oil spills into the ocean. Today, we have environmental safeguards to protect against disasters while drilling. This technology uses a "shut-in" system that immediately stops the flow of oil from the ocean floor if the pump is disconnected, preventing major oil flow into the water. This system proved to be successful in the Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Katrina, one of the most destructive storms in recorded American history. The absence of spillage from rigs in the Gulf of Mexico following Hurricane Katrina is a testament to the strength of the environmental safeguards now in place.

One needs to look no further than Brazil to determine the incredible effects that can come from domestic drilling. Upon discovering two large oil fields in the Atlantic, Brazil began drilling and is now 100 percent energy independent from nations such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq.

Congress must act immediately to allow exploration of new resources in America. It is time to make searching and drilling for oil in the Atlantic, Pacific, eastern parts of the Gulf of Mexico, northern Alaska and the Rocky mountains legal. With environmental precautions in place, such drilling will lower fuel prices and boldly enhance our nation's independence.

Roman R. Stockton