Additional drilling could help ease pump prices

By David A. Galt / Executive Director

Montana Petroleum Association

As fuel prices continue to soar Americans are incorporating lifestyle changes into their daily activities - curbing driving habits, switching to hybrid vehicles and budgeting food and medical expenses to accommodate escalating fuel costs. As Congress holds congressional hearings, they refuse to acknowledge the solution to moderating energy prices can be found at home.

Recently, we watched Congress force President Bush to stop placing crude oil into the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Even though the amount of crude going into the reserve was merely a drop compared to our daily demand, the idea that all available crude oil was not being processed to gasoline was extremely upsetting to a majority of Americans. About 70,000 barrels of oil a day was being used to fill a 737 million barrel reserve. Less than a month ago, our nation was concerned about this diversion of crude supply, yet we have hardly heard a word about our inability to produce and develop more than 19 BILLION barrels of oil and more than 95 TRILLION cubic feet of natural gas, all sitting untouched under American soil. Odd isn't it?

Odd, considering America has the 12th largest oil reserves in the world, with enough resources to supply Americans with domestic energy for decades to come. And even more strange is our policy makers touting the need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, while keeping these natural resources off limits.

A recent article in the (Helena) Independent Record quoted a popular misconception that "rolling back environmental safeguards and lifting drilling prohibitions" were needed to access the reserves we have at home. Yes, it would require lifting drilling prohibitions, but there would be no rolling back of environmental safeguards. Currently, any drilling operations on public land must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, just to name a few.

Additional safeguards are in place to protect wildlife and habitat. We've made great strides over the last decade to reduce our environmental footprint and minimize any lasting impact on Mother Nature. New technologies, such as directional drilling allows us to access areas and develop reservoirs with minimal disturbance to habitat, while road traffic to well sites is reduced with remote production monitoring.

We've invested more than $90 billion over the last decade to improve our operations and we continue to find innovative means to enhance exploration. Access technologies have come a long way and because of their progress, our environmental footprint is greatly reduced.

In order to sustain our way of life and secure the nation's energy future, we must increase our access to the vast resources that lie along our coasts and within our borders - we've proven that we can do so in a clean, safe and environmentally responsible manner.

Lately, oil and natural gas development in America has been under siege by environmental extremists-and it is unlikely to stop. Statements that development will ruin our hunting heritage or destroy the last, best place, are nonsense. Deer, elk and other wildlife have been witnessed in developed areas, underscoring the coexistence between energy development and wildlife.

We take our environmental responsibilities seriously. Not only because we need to for our business operations, but because we live and raise our families in these same communities. Whether it's hunting, fishing or hiking, we love the great outdoors, too.

The energy picture is going to look quite different in the next 15-20 years. Alternative energy sources that are being developed now will have a larger share in our energy toolbox, while oil and natural gas will continue to fuel our nation's economy. A healthy energy diet for the nation should not exclude any one resource from the overall energy portfolio. We need to develop balanced policies, diverse sources and smart solutions that curb our consumption. These are the keystones for domestic energy success.