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Oil prices have dropped to around $56 a barrel.  T. Boone Pickens was on Fox this morning talking about delaying his push for alternative energy because oil and natural gas prices are too low to drive demand for wind farms.  Mr. Pickens then went on to say he expects oil demand to exceed “peak oil” in the near future and prices to go back up.

If we know how hard it was, and we know we will be there again, why give up on the push for domestic drilling and alternative sources of fuel?  Are our memories that short?  Can you imagine dealing with the housing crisis and the large numbers of layoffs right now AND still paying $4+ per gallon?  That would drive many more people past the breaking point.

I understand why Mr. Pickens isn’t pushing his wind farms anymore.  There likely isn’t the political will to give him tax breaks and incentives for the project, nor are investors likely to be as ready to pony up as they were before (besides the fact that wind farms are woefully inefficient).  But what about the rest of us?  What’s our excuse?  At some point, the backbreaking prices are going to come back, yet the emphasis in the media and around the water cooler is not focused on domestic energy production like it once was.

Unless something changes, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes of the last 30 years.  If you wait until oil prices triple again, or some foreign enemy threatens our supply, it will be too late to start the movement again.  We keep hearing that it will take ten years to fully tap into our domestic supplies.   While that timeframe is patently ridiculous it does stress the point… why wait?

Americans need jobs.  The American economy needs a push.  There is still plenty of money to be made in domestic oil production and alternative souces of fuel.  This must become and remain a national priority.

Ignoring the signs and being lax about threats allowed September 11th to happen.  I argue that the this threat is no different.  We can wait until supply and some foreign threat combine to bring our country to its knees, or we can learn from history and get to work on domestic production before it happens again.

When will we learn from our mistakes?  Or will our children have to wage the same fight because we failed to do so?

The next time you shake your head at high gas prices or are shocked when you open the gas bill for your home, remember who is to blame. Radical environment lobbyists and their lawyers continually stand in the way of American energy self reliance. They are responsible for wasting your tax dollars, delaying energy independence, preventing American energy jobs, elevating high prices and causing limited supply.  If jobs, the economy or your family’s budget are important issues for you, then you need to know who is to blame.

Via Maritime Sentry:

Congressman John Shadegg and his staff have put together a great resource for all of us who like to stay informed and inform others on how environmental groups are using the courts to stop energy development. Which in turn, of course, affects every American’s pocket books. Just imagine all the lost jobs and tax revenue, imagine the schools and infrastructure that could have been upgraded. Every time one of these environmental groups use the court in this manner we all lose.

>> Recent legal challenges blocking domestic energy production.

Couple that with the “sham” that is the Gang of 10 er… 20 plan, and you realize that lobbyists, lawyers and left leaning politicians don’t care much about your family’s budget or America’s energy security.

The Heritage Foundation says it would be better to do nothing than sign on to the gang’s so-called plan:

A change in policy for offshore drilling would certainly be welcomed, but not at the expense of the American taxpayer. A compromise can only go so far and limited expansion to offshore drilling paired with more subsidies and tax credits for unsuccessful sources of energy isn’t the right way to go. If this is the only policy on the table, it would be more prudent for Congress to allow these anti-energy restrictions expire and have the Department of Interior commence leasing these areas to the energy companies. With the Gang of 16 proposal, for every one step we take forward, we’re taking two steps back. The countdown is on.

We know Pelosi doesn’t want to drill, neither does Obama.  They are perfectly happy with the status quo of leftist lawsuits and pathetic restrictions that put our economy and energy security at risk.  Let John McCain know that we need real leadership on this issue.  He needs to come out against this farce and in favor of real energy production and reform.

Drill Here, Drill Now.

Oil dropped below $100 today. Hitting $99.99 in New York. It’s only a penny, but its the best looking penny I’ve seen in quite a while. With OPEC cutting production and a hurricane in the gulf, why is oil still dropping?

Certainly part of it is a decline in demand. Certainly part of it is a decline in speculators. But there is little question that part of it is also because the world understands the American people are ready to drill as well as look for other alternatives. With the real threat of increased supply and decreased demand, prices have no choice to fall. Why buy any more today than you absolutely have to if there is a good possibility it will be cheaper tomorrow?

There also is a little cynicism and maybe some fear in the market. I can’t prove it, but logic dictates its true. If prices drop, the drumbeat for domestic drilling might likely fade, and the Democrats might keep American production at bay. If that happens, the world suppliers don’t have to worry about added competition. It is in their best interest to discourage competition. So better to manipulate the market now and let prices fall in the short term so they won’t have long term low prices if additional American production hits the market.

As American citizens, the best thing we can do is keep the pressure on. Don’t look at the dropping oil price as a sign we’ve won… look at it as a sign that we are winning. There is a big difference between the two. We haven’t won until the game is over, the last thing we want to do is give up a lead going into the fourth quarter.

There is no better time than now to convince Congress, the two Presidential nominees and the American public that its time to open up domestic drilling. Create jobs, buffer national security, and move along the path to energy independence. We must keep up the fight.

Please keep the pressure on.  Victory is in sight.

Drill Here.  Drill Now.  Drill for tomorrow.

Supposedly Nancy Pelosi is now open to voting on domestic drilling. The media is going to carry this bag for her, but don’t be fooled. If domestic drilling amounts to the supposed “compromise” Lindsey Graham, Saxby Chambliss and three other Republican Senators worked out in their Gang of Ten, don’t expect the oil to start flowing. And her insistence that any bill also include releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve shows just how clueless she actually is. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is there for immediate and dire emergencies… like if a serious Hurricane cuts off our supply or some war or terrorist event prevents us from getting the resources we need. And guess what… whatever is released must be replaced, which means more tax dollars going to buy oil at a higher price point just because Nancy Pelosi wants to give our country some fake, election-year relief. Its not a solution and its not a policy… its equivalent to putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound.

Releasing from the Strategic Reserve is the hoax… just like the Gang of Ten’s “compromise” is. Neither will do anything to increase our domestic oil production. Neither will do anything to consistently increase supply or provide energy security or independence. Neither will open up the new jobs possible like offshore drilling would.

Don’t be fooled or let the liberal press give Pelosi a pass on this. The heat is on. Keep up the fight.

Drill Here. Drill Now.

Crude futures are still dropping, trading below $114 a barrel, the lowest level since May. There are a lot of reasons for the current declines… a big part of it is demand continuing to stay lower than previous years as Americans adjust their driving habits to a tight family budget. Another big part is the battle currently being waged in America and Washington to increase supply and start drilling at home.

If you want the price to keep dropping, then you must keep up the fight. It doesn’t take too much to remember what it was like before oil broke the $100 barrel barrier or when gas prices broke $3 a gallon. Those previous unbreakable positions were broken… and after complaining for a few weeks, Americans turned their attention to something else and prices started rising again. If we don’t want to return to $140+ barrels of crude and $4 gallon gas, we must keep the pressure on. A quarter or two drop in the price per gallon is not enough to forget the lessons we have already learned.

There is too much supply in our land and off our coast that is not being taken advantage of. We have already seen Americans want domestic drilling… just the threat of which has helped to spur the price decline. Imagine what we can gain when drilling actually begins.

Don’t go back to sleep America, now is the time to act. Momentum is on our side. The country is on our side. Some brave Republicans are on our side. If we fail to act now, $4 per gallon will likely return with $5 not too far behind.

She can’t sell books, and she certainly isn’t presiding over the most open and most ethical Congress in history, or doing the people’s work while she’s off shilling her wares on a 5-week paid vacation. She’s blocking a vote on drilling domestically for oil even while the us real Americans are suffering at the pump. She’s out of touch and out of her league. Get your “Looney Pelosi T-Shirt” and tell her and the rest of the liberals that its time they either start to understand the issues that matter to real Americans, or step aside and let someone competent do the job.

Get your Looney Pelosi T-Shirts here.

Yesterday we released three new Pro Domestic Drilling T-Shirts. We also have some “Drill Now Yard Signs” to be released shortly. Keep the pressure on Washington, and support representatives who are not accepting Nancy Pelosi’s obstruction and Barack Obama’s gimmicks.

We need to start drilling now. Drill for oil. Drill for lower prices. Drill for jobs. Drill for security. It really is that simple. Join the fight today.

UPDATE: Drill Now Yard Signs now available.

House Republicans revolted today, trying to get domestic drilling started to lessen the burden on American taxpayers and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Members participating in the spontaneous uprising included Reps. Roy Blunt, John Boehner, Michael Burgess, John Campbell, Eric Cantor, Shelly Moore Capito, John Carter, Mike Conaway, John Culberson, Charlie Dent, Jeff Fortenberry, Virginia Foxx, Louie Gohmert, Pete Hoekstra, Duncan Hunter, Thaddeus McCotter, Mike Pence, Tom Price, Ted Poe, Adam Putnam, Bill Sali, John Shadegg, John Shimkus, Tim Walberg, and Lynn Westmoreland.

Nancy Pelosi adjourned the House for a five week vacation while millions of Americans are still suffering at the gas pump. She won’t let bipartisan domestic drilling proposals come for a vote, and she’s now off promoting her book instead of working for the American public.

While Nancy Pelosi is off pushing her book, “America sends 50 million to Putin 200 million to Saudi Arabia 180 million to Hugo Chavez” because we can’t enough of our oil at home.

When will Americans rise up and say they’ve had enough? Forty GOP Representatives did that today… support them and let’s keep up the fight.

DRILL HERE. DRILL NOW.

Yesterday I filled up with regular unleaded at $3.78 a gallon… the cheapest I had seen (if you can call that cheap) in a while. I found out a few miles away, another service station actually had it for $3.69. Wish I had gone there.

What caused the drop in crude futures and thus the price of gas at the pump? Certainly President Bush’s repeal of an executive order banning drilling off the coastal shelf had something to do with it. Now imagine if Congress actually acted and allowed drilling to start. How much more could oil (and gas) prices fall?

Its funny to me that Democrats are always whining about how much the rest of the world likes us and if we are being fair to them… yet they don’t see the hypocrisy in their opposition of drilling here for oil. To take their argument… how fair is it to the rest of the world to take their oil when we can produce our own? If they think its so bad for the environment (its not) then how fair is it to destroy the environment in other countries in order to (falsely) protect the environment at home?

That’s not my argument though. My argument is why continue to put money in the pockets of other countries, some of which have evil leaders who use the profits for evil purposes, when we can keep the money here? Why continue to prop up oil prices unnecessarily, which has allowed dictators like Hugo Chavez to make threats, the Iranians to develop nukes and the resurgence of a Russian Empire? At a time when our economy is struggling, why not kill two birds (or three)? We can lower the price at the pump, decrease the income of some very bad people, AND CREATE AMERICAN JOBS if we start drilling at home.

Just because you are starting to see a decline in gas prices from a few weeks ago… DON’T STOP THE FIGHT. Remember how bad it was when gas prices broke the $3 barrier? Now we’ve seen it break $4. We can’t be satisfied at $3.50 or even $3 as its still much higher than it needs to be. Any price is too high as long as we aren’t using what’s available to us now.

We must double our efforts and keep the pressure on congress. Our economy and our national security are both at stake. There is no excuse. Don’t let this fight leave our consciousness because prices are starting to fall. They won’t fall enough and we won’t lesson our dependence on foreign oil until we act.

Drill Here. Drill Now. There is no other choice.

Via Marketwatch:

Crude-oil futures fell for a third straight day on Thursday, ending below $130 a barrel for the first time since June 5…

Certainly the economy has something to do with this, as does the dollar which is showing some signs of strengthening. But I also believe the millions of Americans who are putting pressure on the government to Drill Here, Drill Now has something to do with it. If the world starts to believe that America will start relying a little more on itself for its energy needs, they will begin to realize the market for their oil will stall or shrink (as it has been recently).

Even if gas prices start to fall back a bit, this is not the time to lower our voices or stop the push for domestic oil drilling. This is the very time we need to start becoming more vocal and increase pressure on Washington to actually do something. Nancy Pelosi may not want domestic drilling or offshore production… but she works for us… keep the pressure on and she won’t have a choice.

Well, President Bush has done his part, lifting the executive order that prohibited offshore drilling. Now its congress’ turn. Any guesses how long it will take them?

Any other year, and I’d bet they’d hold off indefinitely. But this is an election year and the masses (myself included) are plenty ticked about gas prices and our inability to utilize our resources at home. So I’m betting as soon as they find political cover to make the move, congress will actually act. The Dems will take quite a bit of heat from the EnviroLunatics in their midst, but do they really have a choice? I hope not. Its time we get moving towards a little more energy independence.

Feeling the squeeze of $4+ per gallon of gas, Americans are changing their driving patterns. Gasoline demand dropped 2.3 percent from this time last year, evidence that Americans are finding alternatives for their driving patterns. But there is only so much driving you can cut back. If your company doesn’t support flexible work schedules and you have to get to the store, unless you are in a large city with other commute options, driving might be your only alternative.

Certainly as a nation we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, lucky for us there are strong oil reserves right in our own backyard. According to a recent Zogby Poll, 79% of Americans support off shore coastal drilling, and 59% support drilling in ANWR (that number might be higher if not for the years of liberal propaganda on the subject).

Our country has natural oil resources three times greater than the current oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. Isn’t it time to start drilling here and stop propping up global oil prices to benefit the Middle East?

Join the Off Shore Drill Team and send a message to Congress and the world that enough is enough. Its time to use our own natural resources to protect our economy and our sovereignty. We can lower gas prices and create jobs right here at home.

Sign the Petition at American Solutions and tell Congress its time to drill, now.