Guest post from Shawn Grubbs of Fort Wayne

As I write this the price of gasoline is over three dollars per gallon. Even before Hurricane Katrina wiped out ten percent of our nation's refining capacity, gas was over $2.50 per gallon. The longer gas prices stay high, the more it will hurt all of us, especially low income Americans. Our economy, our jobs, and our lifestyles depend on oil. We need to immediately put an end to the radical environmental policies that reduce the supply of oil and gas. The US Geological Survey estimates that there are 10 billion barrels of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), but the politicians in Washington have thus far refused to let us drill for oil there because of pressure from fringe environmental groups. The government also limits oil drilling offshore and on government owned lands.

We also need greater refining capacity. The refinery scheduled to be built in Arizona in 2006 will be the first major new refinery in the US in 30 years! Why? Because whenever a company proposes building a new refinery, they face mountains of red tape from the Environmental Protection Agency and lawsuits from radical environmental groups. We need to stop this madness. We will not conserve our way out of this crisis.