Outdated laws stand in way of domestic drilling

Tom Keller, Henderson

Monday, Dec. 13, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.

In his Friday letter to the editor, headlined “U.S. doesn’t make efficient use of oil at its disposal,” Bob Abbott makes the point that spending billions of dollars a year for foreign oil makes no sense.

I believe the size of the outflow will only escalate as government policies devalue the dollar, inflating the price of that oil. Four or five dollars for a gallon of gasoline is a likely result.

But the reason we are dependent on foreign supplies is a failure to develop domestic resources and not, as Mr. Abbott suggests, insufficient refining capacity.

The only route to self-sufficiency and lower prices is removing overly restrictive environmental rules. Environmentally responsible drilling is not an oxymoron.

Continuing to ban domestic drilling because of a 20-year-old sky-is-falling mentality is extremely expensive and a huge drag on the economy.