Why doesn't the American government get oil from our own country so that our gas/fuel prices go down?

Question

Why doesn't the American government get oil from our own country so that our gas/fuel prices go down?

Answer 1

they would rather us give money to opec than to our own country. no other reason. they have no problems with saudi arabia or russia "ruining" the enviroment.

Answer 2

DUH?  we do get oil and gas from our own country.  You did not know that?

Answer 3

Strong Environmental Lobbiests paying off the Dems.

Answer 4

It's not going to make a difference in the long run, this is a dream that the Reps have cooked up to make it seem like eco-friendly liberals are making gas prices high.  Total BS.

Bush went to war without authorization, you think he could be stopped from drilling for oil in the USA if he really wanted to?  Come on.

Answer 5

really its not that hard to understand we dont have that much oil in the early 1900's we were the main source for oil so oil was given to the world but i dont think we should tap in to our sources this soon we do need backup. like for militart reasons. and economic reasons to lets say that theres no more oil no where we stillhave the oil thats saved. we can jack up all the prices for other countries and the our economy will rise.

Answer 6

You'll get two answers:

1) It's only a short term fix and wouldn't help much.

2) Environmentalists keep blocking any drilling, refining, and nuke plants in America and Democrats pander to them.

I lean with number 2.  It would help a lot if we had millions of barrels of Alaskan oil being sold only here in America.

Answer 7

simple, we don't have that much oil.

not even close to enough.

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its true.

and..

the people telling you we have Decades worth of oil under our soil can NOT give you a link or source that backs up that claim because they are lying.

No one on this site has ever been able to back up that claim, they just blame the environmentalist mindlessly

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just so you know all the facts -

we will go and get that oil

all of it, every last drop !

because the oil is running out, thus we wont have any choice in the matter, but it wont ever make the prices go down.

the gas prices are going up, and up, and up.

nothing can change that now because demand will forever be greater than supply (if not today then Very soon)

Answer 8

Because U.S. oil companies  sell their oil to other countries.

Maine is a great and famous producer of potatoes, and so is the state of Idaho.  So why are Idaho potatoes sold here in New England?  But I can't find Maine potatoes anywhere here in Boston?  I guess its the same with Oil?

Answer 9

Liberal eco freaks nuff said.

Answer 10

The U.S. is the largest consumer of oil in the world. We are being told that demand is up, thus the price goes up. Does anyone know how much oil the Defense Dept. uses in one day, considering that an Abrams tank gets 0.5 mpg and a Hummer gets 10 mpg. I would guess that no matter where we get it, as long as we continue to waste it  on a war for money, it will be high. Haliburton had pipe stacked and waiting to be laid before Bush declared war. Looks like Americans are making a profit from obtaining foreign oil. As long as people like Cheney puppeteer government  we will never see the light of day..

Answer 11

Because the Democrats and the eco terrorist have refused,blocked, and threatened everyone who has tried to do so.

Also when it comes to building new refineries the same thing happens.

No new refinery has been built since the mid 1970s, they refuse to allow kind of plants that would help use in anyway, shape, or form.

Answer 12

Environmentalists (and their liberal leaders in Washington) won't let us drill for oil on our own soil.  There is enough oil under Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho to supply the US for 60-70 years, Alaska probably has twice that much under it, and there are huge oil deposits in the Gulf of Mexico.

Answer 13

It's not a permanent solution to the problem.  And opening up new areas would still take years to get to the market.

Answer 14

Conservatives are hopelessly uneducated and brainwashed on this subject. Allow me to educate you.

1.) Of the top 14 oil and gas producing states, 12 reached their peak production prior to 1972, so no, environmentalism isn't to blame. That's just the nature of non-renewable energy. One of the 2 remaining states is Alaska, which peaked in 1989. The other is California, which peaked in 1985, so it definitely can't be pinned on the environmentalists.

2.) There are over 1800 rigs drilling all over the US today including over 61 in the Gulf of Mexico. Most companies have a multi-year backlog of wells already permitted, there just aren't enough rigs to drill them all at once. Source: American Petroleum Institute rig count: Oil and Gas Journal

3.) The government has approved over 25,000 wells to be drilled on federal lands in the 5-state Rocky Mountain Region of the US. 19,000 of those wells have already been drilled, leaving a backlog of 6,000 wells that can be drilled anytime the oil companies feel like it. This doesn't even include wells on private lands, which are even less restricted.

4.) Jeb and George Bush established a moratorium preventing any drilling rigs within sight of land off the Florida coast. That ban was requested by real estate speculators, not environmentalists.

5.) There have been thousands of permits issued to expand, update, and improve existing refineries since the Clean Air Act went into effect. They could just as easily get permits to build new refineries if they wanted to. The oil companies prefer to expand and modernize existing refineries since it is cheaper than building new ones. Source: 15 years working in the refining business. Example1: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=...

Example 2: http://www.siteselection.com/ssinsider/p...

6. 27% of US production currently comes from the Gulf of Mexico and there are 61 rigs drilling there today, so NO, it is NOT off limits, despite what your dim-witted right-wing programmers tell you. Where do conservatives get such silly, uninformed ideas?

Answer 15

We do get some from Alaska, Oklahoma, Texas, California, and I believe Pennsylvania. Anyway the supplies are dwinddling and the environmentalists don't want us to build oil derricks out in the ocean because we might kill a fish or algae or something.