By Harriet Blake and Barbara Kessler
The battle cry “Drill, baby, drill” got everyone pumped at last week’s Republican Convention because many Americans seem convinced — in spite of contrary evidence — that opening up off-shore oil drilling will actually bring in more oil, and in turn drive down gas prices.
The economic theory is sound: Build oil supply and price comes down. And the emotional response is understandable, gas prices have put a big squeeze on Americans at a time when the rest of the economy is clearly suffering.
But the strategy is flawed, according to many energy experts who’ve been weighing in for weeks, saying that these off-shore locations that have been closed to drilling will not produce a significant amount of oil, and what would dribble in, wouldn’t arrive anytime very soon.
Even the U.S. government’s own experts report that the impact of domestic oil from off-shore drilling would be “insignificant.”
