Conservation is solution to energy crunch

Remedies for soaring gasoline prices proposed by President Bush and Sen. John McCain would increase America’s capacity to produce more energy from its own resources. What those remedies would not do is reduce the cost of gasoline anytime soon.

The president’s demand that Congress immediately lift its bans on exploring for oil and natural gas off-shore and on federal lands wouldn’t be productive for at least seven years, more likely 10. The impact on world prices, and on the cost of a gallon of gas in America, would be minimal. That’s because the U.S. controls, at most, only 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer