U.S. needs to boost domestic oil production

Tom Keller, Henderson

Monday, May 17, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.

Michael Pravica’s Thursday letter to the editor, headlined “Alternative energy is abundant in U.S.,” pushed the development of alternative energy sources to achieve energy independence.

But regardless of the politicians’ propaganda, we are not dependent on foreign energy. The problem is dependence on foreign oil, which won’t be addressed by building government-subsidized windmills and solar cells.

It will probably take 20 to 30 years to get gas-guzzling cars off the road. Until that happens, we need major increases in domestic oil production. Alternative energy can wait.

The regulations limiting development of onshore oil deposits in Alaska and Western oil shale need to be lifted now. The risk is a lot lower than continuing to bring 2 million barrel tankers to our shores.