OpEd: Drilling does nothing for our oil addiction

I was driving with my daughter when I saw the gas gauge on my minivan getting close to E. I dreaded pulling into the gas station with gas prices over $4 a gallon. Like all Floridians, I find it hard to pay nearly $80 for something that just recently cost me $40.

Earlier this week, President Bush moved to lift the moratorium on drilling off of Florida’s coast. He did this, despite knowing that 68 million acres of federal oil reserves are already leased and sitting unused by the oil companies and that drilling off Florida’s coast jeopardizes our $65 billion-a-year tourism economy and thousands of jobs.

Proponents of drilling off Florida’s coast ignore that more drilling has barely put a dent in gas prices. Since 2000, drilling on land has significantly increased, at the same time that the cost of gas has tripled. They also ignore that last year the Department of Energy reported that lifting the moratorium on Outer Continental Shelf drilling “would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas prices before 2030.”

Drilling off Florida’s coast doesn’t end our energy crisis — while giving us the perilous illusion that we’re doing something. Even if the oil companies are able to drill everywhere they want, the facts remain the same: There’s a finite amount of oil in the world. The demand for that oil is skyrocketing, and prices increase with demand.

We need to address this challenge with short-term solutions to lower prices, combined with long-term strategies to reduce oil consumption.

Two actions can reduce the price of gas right away: releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and forcing oil companies to start drilling on the 311 million acres they already have access to now. Unfortunately, the president and congressional Republicans refuse to support these steps to lower prices immediately.

For the longer term, Democrats in Congress continue our work to keep gas prices under control. We’re investigating price gouging by retailers. We’re moving to hold OPEC accountable for price fixing that increases the cost of oil. We gave the Federal Trade Commission new authority to crack down on speculators manipulating energy prices.

All of these solutions will help motorists this summer. But they don’t break our addiction to oil.

So Democrats in Congress are doing more: We’ve passed legislation that invests in alternative fuels and ensures that, in 12 years, the average car will get 35 miles per gallon. This is 40 percent more efficient than today, saving motorists the equivalent of $1.60 per gallon at today’s prices.

We’re also investing in alternative energy. Advanced fuels, hybrid and plug-in cars, hydrogen fuel cells, provide viable near-term alternatives to gasoline cars. Billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies currently going to profit-rich oil companies should be moved to alternative energy research.

The benefits of clean energy may still be a few years down the road. But as proponents of drilling off Florida’s coast promise to feed our addiction to oil for just a little longer, some of us are planning for the long run. Because when you’ve got kids in a minivan, you have to think not just about the price you’re paying today, but whether you want your kids to face the high cost of oil in the future.

Wasserman-Shultz, D-Weston, represents U.S. House District 20.