Oil prices are only as high as they are now because the market is anticipating future scarcity. Oil is being bought up and stored so that when production fails to meet demand there will be enough set aside to make up the difference. If the market could be reassured that future oil production was going to meet demand then traders would be selling their oil and prices would fall as a result. But our government's promise not to harvest the oil in ANWR and other offshore fields is a big part of the reason that oil prices are so high right now, and though a reversal of that decision wouldn't affect the supply of oil until 3-5 years after, the market would immediately react by reducing the price of oil.
Bush is to blame for reducing our energy security overseas, but the environmentalist movement is to blame for reducing our energy security here at home.
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