With recent predictions of $150 a barrel crude oil by July 4, and $7-per-gallon gasoline by December of this year, is there any question that America needs to resume drilling for its own oil?

There hasn’t been a significant leak or oil spill in the United States in more than 39 years, and yet oil companies are denied access to 95 percent of the nation’s known reserves.

In 1995, the Republican Congress voted to pass legislation allowing the drilling of oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge reserves. President Bill Clinton, however, vetoed the bill, denying drilling rights. Had Clinton allowed that plan to proceed 13 years ago, this nation might not be in the apocalyptic mess it is in today.

Opponents of drilling in ANWR claim the benefits of doing so would be long-term and offer no immediate relief. I disagree. If President Bush were to exercise executive power and issue a directive that the United States will immediately resume drilling for oil wherever it has access to it, I could almost guarantee that the shock waves of that announcement alone would cause the price of crude oil to plummet.

President Bush, with the power of the pen, has the ability to salvage the country’s economy and strengthen the nation’s sovereignty. Does he have the political fortitude to do it, or will he let the U.S. self-destruct?

Paul St. Jean, Lewiston