The common argument against lifting federal restrictions of oil drilling in ANWR is that it would be years before oil was produced and it wouldn't provide any immediate relief. The way I see it, the exact same thing could be said with the ridiculous current and proposed subsidies for "green energy" or a windfall profits tax on "big oil". Of course the impact won't be immediate, it would be silly to expect a sudden increase in supply. But, the current price and price movements of oil is largely from speculation which is greatly fueled from the fact that we buy the majority of our oil from volatile, state-owned companies around the world. There is actually a good amount of oil in ANWR and the technology today is much better than it was ten years ago when people made the same argument that it wasn't worth drilling because the oil wouldn't be flowing for another ten years. It would take several years for oil to start pumping and I believe volatility would be greatly reduced because of it. Opening up ANWR would not solve all our problems, I'm not claiming that. Eventually, Americans will need to smarten up and lift the federal restrictions on nuclear, coal, and the land in the Midwest that's full of shale oil. Eventually people will realize that the Federal Reserve's idea that you can create wealth out of a printing press does contribute to higher energy prices through inflation.

Even so, opening up ANWR is a step in the right direction. When the state governor and the majority of Alaskans want it opened, it makes absolutely no sense for Congress to continue its restriction. At the very least, let the states decide which energy sources to produce and use. Continuing with an energy policy of "only what the federal government likes" is foolhardy, dangerous, and makes absolutely no sense. Like I said, ANWR is a step in the right direction. Not a long-term solution, but in the short and mid-term, it would lessen volatility, lower U.S. oil demand from unstable and anti-U.S. countries, and create a lot of new jobs. So while I really would love to see federal restrictions lifted on all sorts of energy sources, there has to be a starting point.