Notice you slid past eight years of complete non-action on this, other than squelching domestic production and refining. To be fair, Reagan didn't do all that much during his administration, either. The 1970s oil crisis went away, and America moved into "the roof don't leak when it ain't raining" mode.

ANWR isn't a solution. It's part of it. So is removing barriers to new refining capacity, preferably some of it out of the hurricane zone, and opening drilling in many U.S. places other than Alaska.

There are alternatives to fossil fuels. People can't afford them yet. If the government comes up with some ham-handed giant program, they will screw it up high, wide, and deep, like they've done with immigration. Laws will be made by lawmakers supremely butt-ignorant about technology and economics, lawmakers who believe the only reason cheap cars that get 80 mpg aren't all over the roads yet is because they haven't passed a law forcing it.

Alternative energy solutions are coming down the pike fast, encouraged by real market forces and the high oil prices. Venture capital into these industries out here has gone up over 100 percent in the past year or so.

ANWR is a pressure relief. It will have a strong pyschological effect on futures prices, and add new domestic supply in a time when many of our imports come from, frankly, lunatic nations.

It isn't enough to solve our energy needs by itself. No one source is. But sitting in the ground, it is doing NOTHING for our energy needs. Anything greater than zero is a help.