No to Offshore Drilling, Yes to Energy Innovation

Dear decision-maker,

The era of cheap oil is over and opening up environmentally sensitive areas to oil drilling will not bring it back.

Offshore oil exploration is slow and costly. The Energy Information Agency estimates that opening the coasts to offshore drilling would have no significant impact on oil prices before 2030.

The EIA also estimates that opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would reduce the cost of gas by only a few pennies per gallon, and not until 2027.

The only way to free ourselves from expensive oil is to get off oil. And the best way to do that is to support market-based policies that create economic incentives to unleash clean energy innovation and create the clean economy of the 21st century.

That's precisely what a cap on global warming pollution will do: cut our oil imports (by as much as $490 billion over the next two decades) and kick start the development of clean energy alternatives.

Washington has waited too long to develop a common sense national energy policy, and with gas at $4 per gallon, we're now paying the price. But we can respond to this energy crisis by adopting better, smarter energy policies that reward innovation and free us from oil.

I urge you to say NO to lifting the ban on offshore drilling and YES to clean energy innovation.