OffShore Drilling for Oil a Political Hogwash

With oil prices hitting record highs of $4 a gallon in the US, President Bush and presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain have joined hand and are calling on the US Congress to lift the federal ban on offshore exploration and drilling along the coastal regions of the US and possibly the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

Aside from the obvious impact this will have on the environment and marine life, this policy is misguided and short sighted. According to Energy Information Administration, the proposed offshore drilling plan would not have any significant impact on oil prices in the near term and it would take 20 years for any benefits to be realized. So my question is, if it is going to take 20 years to explore more oil, why not invest those 20 years in investing and exploring renewable energy resources. Wouldn't this be a much better energy policy?

But as Justin Wolfers in a recent commentary on Marketplace put it, "Political discussions always seem to focus on the noisy complaints of those who lose". And in this election year, pandering to the constituents who make the most noise and imposing a unfeasible short term fix to ease pain at the pump seems to be the order of the day. Surely, this may help in gaining a political advantage in the short term, but a better alternative would be to look at the long term, make some hard decisions and try to find solutions that will permanently fix this problem.