The Patriot Post® · What Time Is It? Time to Start Arctic Drilling

While the U.S. is enjoying a boom in oil production, it has been no thanks to Barack Obama’s policies – as federal lands remain closed, the growth is almost entirely on private lands. Yet no good thing lasts forever, and even the government says we should be prepared. The Associated Press reports, “The U.S. should immediately begin a push to exploit its enormous trove of oil in the Arctic waters off of Alaska, or risk a renewed reliance on imported oil in the future, an Energy Department advisory council says in a study submitted Friday.” It takes years from exploration to first barrel on the market, so best to get started. Thanks to economic growth in China, India and elsewhere, fossil-fuel demand is expected to grow – in spite of leftist climate alarmism. So why the Arctic? The AP says geologists estimate it “holds about a quarter of the world’s undiscovered conventional oil and gas deposits.” More oil drilling has never been a policy goal for the Obama administration, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. That said, an Energy Department study is hardly going to persuade Obama to open up the spigots.