You can put lipstick on an empty milkshake, but it’s still an empty milkshake.

During her recent homecoming speech in Alaska, Gov. Palin rallied the crowd into an oily frenzy, cheering: “drill, baby, drill”. Sen. McCain, Pres. Bush, and a host of others (Democrats too) have been arguing for increased oil drilling in coastal waters. The hope is that more oil will provide relief from high gasoline prices and dependence on hostile nations like Iran. Right? Hogwash. This article gives five reasons why we should NOT drill, baby, drill.

America cannot drill our way out of the mess we are in. As oilman Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) from There Will Be Blood explained, “I drink your milkshake”, which means that once the oil has been drilled, it’s gone. America has drank its oil milkshake for more than a century, and it’s time to kick the habit.

1. Even if we drill, baby, drill, America will still import most of its oil.
America uses 25% of the world’s oil today, yet only has 3% of the world’s proven reserves. How can we ever drill our way to security with such a supply/demand mismatch? We import two-third of our oil today. Opening more areas to exploration would add only a little more oil, and we would still be importing the majority of our oil. So much for energy security…

2. Drilling will not bring down gasoline prices
OPEC controls the oil market and likes high prices-OPEC could easily counteract any new supply America adds to the market with a proportional decrease in production. Even in a fictional world where OPEC does not exist, more drilling in America would have a marginal effect, since we have so few reserves. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) agrees that adding more supply would only cut gasoline prices by a few cents (if OPEC was not involved). And the EIA agrees it would take 10 years for our new oil to hit the market. So much for helping average Americans…

3. Our economy would still be hostage to oil prices
Oil prices have more of an impact on our economy than even the President. And when there is an oil shock, like in the 1970s or today, it brutalizes our economy. Currently, America is spending $700 billion per year on foreign oil, nearly twice what we spend on our public education system. Imagine how much stronger our economy would be if we had followed Denmark or Brazil’s lesson, and weaned ourselves off foreign oil? What if we had invested that money in education and worker training or clean technologies that we could now be exporting? So much for investing in America…

4. Drilling is only a distraction from the 21st century energy challenge
As Tom Friedman so aptly put it, “drill, baby, drill” is similar to people chanting “typewriters, baby, typewriters” in the early days of computers. We are better than this, America. Lost in the zealous chants of “drill baby drill”, Gov. Palin conceded that drilling will not solve all of our problems. But does she really believe that? By focusing the public debate on drilling, we miss the urgency of clean, American energy on a large scale. There is enough solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear energy in America to power our economy 10 times over. Yet, as congress debates whether to drill, crucial subsidies for wind and solar are languishing, putting multiple projects across the country on hold, retarding the development of a great new industry. So much for repowering America…

5. Burning oil leads to global warming and dead polar bears, remember?
The economy, energy prices, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have pushed the global warming debate to the rear. America is in the process of getting its researchers, entrepreneurs, and capitalists excited about clean technology, partially in the name of global warming, right? Drilling is another distraction. Swing state Florida may not be around forever if the earth keeps warming at the rate expected. And what does Governor Palin have against polar bears? So much for retiring in Florida…