If you’ve been paying attention to the various signs and flyers posted on the walls, inside dorm buildings and in other places around campus, you might have noticed there are several programs N.C. State offers to promote sustainability, saving energy and looking into alternate forms of energy. While I think it’s nice people do projects and research to explore alternate forms of energy such as solar panels and electric cars, I still think we need more oil drilling in the United States. Our country has a lot of natural resources that we haven’t used.

How much oil is in the United States? Some people think we have about 28 million barrels of oil, which isn’t that much compared to the rest of the world. However, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service, we actually have 162 million barrels. The 28 million number is just the proven oil reserves in places we are already drilling. It doesn’t include untapped resources just waiting to be explored. What’s more, if you add the United States reserves of oil, natural gas and coal and compare that with the rest of the world, the total is over 1,300 barrels of oil equivalent in energy—more than any other country in the world. A lot of people don’t know that.

Unfortunately, the United States imports a lot of oil and such from other countries. According to a natural resources research team from the government, oil imports into the United States are on the rise. About 9.1 millions of barrels of oil a day were imported in 2010, and by 2012 it could reach as high as 9.6. No wonder gas prices are high. Many students here definitely know what it‘s like to pay high gas prices. That’s why we have seen an increase of electric and smartcars on campus.

Environmentalists don’t support more U.S. drilling, because they claim it damages the environment. But actually, a lot of oil, in Alaska for example, is in desolate wastelands with not a whole lot of life. I’ve seen pictures and video of vast lands that aren’t being used for anything right now. President Obama and the government need to speed up the process of giving oil companies drilling permits.

The Gulf oil spill was certainly horrible but just because a company was sloppy in following regulations doesn’t mean that we should just completely stop drilling. That makes no sense. That’s like banning the driving of cars just because car accidents take place. Safety regulations need to be strictly followed. But drilling should continue. President Obama’s moratorium on oil is starting to put U.S. companies out of business, and other countries are taking over our rigs. How exactly does that help the U.S. economy again?

Again, I think it’s fine that people are making efforts to do research on alternate forms of energy; if people want to drive hybrid or electric cars then that’s great. Another example is N.C. State’s Think Outside the Brick competition, which promoted more sustainable energy practices on campus. I know people here are doing research to find energy sources that are more easily developed and renewable than oil and I appreciate their efforts. But that doesn’t mean that we all can throw practicality out the window. We need to tap into our resources in our own country. Sarah Palin put it best when she recently said, “I have always been in favor of an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach to energy independence, but ‘all-of-the-above’ means conventional resource development too. It means a coherent, practical, and forward-looking energy policy.”