Drilling is not the solution as the article “Drill, baby, drill” insinuates to our price woes at the pump. The National Resource Defense Council issued a report on Reducing America’s Energy Dependence in 2004 that staunchly discredits this notion. Domestic oil production has declined 20 percent since it peaked in 1970 at 9.64 million barrels per day.

What you referred to as “desolate wastelands” in Alaska would account for roughly 3.2 billion barrels of oil that are economically feasible to recover. At the current oil consumption rate of 13 million barrels per day, according to the Energy Information Administration, this would last us all of eight and a half months.

Simply put, there is not enough economic incentive to cover this oil at a reasonable cost. In fact, these areas are not desolate, nor are they wastelands. They are the homes of unique species, ranging from caribou, polar bears, musk oxen, snow geese, peregrine falcons, wolves and dall sheep.

OPEC estimates that crude oil production is running at 97 percent capacity, meaning that a large influx of drilling would overwhelm the current refinery system. Currently we are producing oil as fast as we can. Rising prices are due to rising demand. This demand results from poor performance vehicles.

Since 1990, the average MPG of vehicles has for all intents and purposes flatlined. It is up to us as consumers to vote with our dollars and show car companies that we want better performing vehicles and thus increased dependence from oil.

Brian Parham

senior, biological sciences