There's Oil in Those Rocky Hills

Fire of Liberty

With oil hovering around the $145 mark and the reaction that members of Congress received this 4th of July weekend from their constituents on $4 plus a gallon of gas, you'd think that they'd get the idea that the American people want more energy. Now being that an alternative fuel source which is as efficient and available to petroleum based fuels is many years away members of Congress should be more willing to open the door up to all forms of petroleum exploration in the continental shelf and the interior US. One place that should be prime pickings during such times of high energy prices is the near 2 trillion barrels of oil that could be obtained from the vast veins of Rocky Mountain shale that are found in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. I know that the Green lobby will have a cow with such proposals, but I can imagine that some kind of compromise could be hammered out in which more funds and tax deductions could be devoted to more green alternatives in return for the oil companies to trade in their government leases(on land that was discovered to have no oil) for the right to mine the oil shale. Though one cannot see this happening in this election cycle, especially with Congress laying blame on higher prices on various entities, I can't fathom the prices going to high until Congress opens up the energy floodgates. The jury is out on Congress as they remain "stuck-on-stupid" with regards to domestic oil drilling/exploration, but they should keep in mind that the prices are rising, they're poll ratings are in singe digits and November is around the corner. If I was in Congress, I'd think about pushing some legislation on greater exploration real soon.