More drilling is part of a strategy that works

Tony Amodeo, North Las Vegas

Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008 | 2:04 a.m.

I do not understand how anyone can say that drilling for offshore oil and oil elsewhere will not affect our situation. I also disagree when it is said it will not have an effect for years.

Let’s turn back the clock about 35 years. The oil gangsters of OPEC decided to cut the production of crude oil and drove up the price. The United States then decided to allocate several billion dollars to exploration for oil and for alternative energies. When the oil gangsters realized the United States was serious about this, they opened up the oil faucets and drove the price of crude oil back down, and in the process made that several-billion-dollar investment in new oil and energy sources unattractive.

Today we’re in the same boat because of the decision then not to continue forward with that investment. I believe that if the oil gangsters of today once again see we are serious about drilling and alternative energy development, they will drive the oil price down again. This will occur even with China and India in the marketplace. It also will force the greedy speculators, who are as much responsible as the oil gangsters, to back off.

Just look what has happened to crude oil prices since the talk about more offshore oil exploration. Crude has plummeted from $148 to $112 a barrel. We must do everything and anything we can to alleviate the stranglehold the oil gangsters have on the world’s economy.