“Common sense is an uncommon virtue”

Greg Loush is taking matters into his own hands. He decided to see what was below his grassy Indiana lawn and low and behold, he found the natural gas he wanted to heat his home, and oil to boot. It’s a money maker for him he says, but there’s more incentive than that: "It's mainly that we don't have to depend on foreign oil.” Gallup reported on May 28 that the majority of Americans, 57 percent, feel that drilling in our coastal and wilderness areas, now off limits, should be allowed. Can I get an amen on that?
Greg’s drilling represents a developing viewpoint of using our own resources to fuel our gas tanks and economy. Congress is warming up to the idea, and thank goodness for that! A neighboring congressman from Pennsylvania, Rep. John Peterson, is pushing legislation to open up areas offshore for energy exploration. "These prices are making voters realize we need to produce more energy domestically,” he stated. Senators Diane Feinstein (Calif.) and Carl Levin (Mich.) are giving support, albeit limited, while Senators Mel Martinez (Fla.), Byron Dorgan (N.D.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), and John Cornyn (Texas) have enthusiastic support to heave towards this common sense thinking.

Our shoes tread on the world’s largest
known deposit of
oil shale estimated to contain
1.23 trillion barrels of oil…

“We have enough oil in this country to make ourselves almost energy-independent, and not one person has mentioned it," Rep. Dan Burton (Ind.) recently said at a hearing on oil prices and national security. "We have to look at the realities of today, and the reality today is that we have untapped reserves that need to be drilled." Amen to that!
Perhaps this could come to mean drilling right off our NJ coastline and if that’s the case, so be it. And if placing wind farms out in our waters will help, so be it. I’m willing to tolerate these to help with this problem.
Since the soles of our shoes tread on the world’s largest known deposit of oil shale estimated to contain 1.23 trillion barrels of oil, mostly on federal lands in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado, we must take advantage of it. It is vital that we develop what we have to reduce our dependency on foreign oil or we remain in a vicious cycle contributing to the ever-weakening dollar. The more money we send to foreign countries for oil, the more we bring the value of the dollar down. And the weaker the dollar is, the more we have to shell out to purchase the oil, which increases our energy prices and the cycle continues. Everything is affected by energy, from the production costs of goods, to the trucks delivering them, to the lights in the stores selling these goods; one way or another, many components are affected by energy costs. This downward cycle will continue unless we transfer our dependency to our own soil.
Thankfully, things are now looking brighter as Congress is peering below our surface for energy solutions, with the public’s support. Can I get an amen on that?

ART HALL, publisher