In the waning days of the big oil Bush administration, oil companies are making a last-chance land grab. The demands for drilling should not drown out the fact that the beneficiary of increased offshore and domestic drilling will be the oil companies, not the American people.

In spite of the Bush-McCain misinformation campaign, the real facts reveal that offshore drilling won’t do anything to ease pain at the pump or help Mainers heat their homes. The government’s Energy Information Administration said that it would take at least a decade to bring any oil online. New coastal drilling would not even reach peak production for 20 years and would have an insignificant effect on energy prices.

Increased drilling will only increase oil industry profits.

I really don’t think Exxon or the other big oil companies need further assistance from American citizens in that regard.

Our failed energy policies of the past have put us in a deep hole. Let’s stop digging (or drilling). We will all benefit by shifting our policies toward creating a clean energy economy.

David Mahoney, Hebron