With gasoline prices topping $4 a gallon, President Bush is asking Congress to lift its long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, saying the United States needs to produce more of the energy it uses.

Motorists want something to be done about the record price of oil, much of which is produced in other countries. “Families across the country are looking to Washington for a response,” Bush said.

Drilling for oil and gas off nearly the entire American coastline has been banned for the past quarter-century. Previous efforts to lift the ban have been met with strong opposition. Lawmakers last debated oil drilling in the U.S. coastal areas in 2005 and 2006, when gasoline averaged $1.84 a gallon.

This is hysteria speaking, everyone wants relief, but where will the relief be? They, most likely oil companies and their puppets, say it will reduce our dependency on foreign oil. Maybe so, but not our dependency on oil and there is where the problem is, not where it comes from.

Ask who will benefit the most from this drilling, you or the oil companies? Why would drilling in the US bring the cost of oil down? Do you really think that the oil companies are gonna give up massive profits so that the consumer can have cheaper gas? You really want to wean yourself off foreign oil, then the person needs to do that, the government is only concerned with the bottom line of the corporations, not the good of the people.

Democrats also claim that land already leased is “sitting idle,” and should be used before any new exploration begins. As put by Maurice Hinchey, a senior member of the House Resources Committee, Big Oil is “trying to take control of as much land now during the oil-friendly Bush Administration years, but are holding off on drilling until the price of oil soars to $200 or $300 a barrel so they can make even greater profits.”

This is a lame attempt to silence the public outcry. Americans will settle down and adjust to the higher prices. If they truly wanted something done then they would have demanded it back in the late 70’s.