EDITORIAL: Don't panic on oil - The Register-Guard

Whenever the price of oil hits the $100 per barrel mark and gasoline nears $4 a gallon, two things are sure to happen: Politicians start calling upon the president to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and Republicans in Congress demand that vast expanses of American coastlines and the Arctic be opened to oil and natural gas drilling.

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Both are bad ideas that would do little to reverse long-term trends on oil prices and supply. The Obama administration should resist these calls and continue its push for a future energy policy that focuses on conservation and development of renewable energy. There will come a time when this nation needs to open the reserve and significantly expand drilling, but that time hasn’t arrived yet. First, the reserve: Members of Congress want Obama to sell oil from the reserve to help stabilize gas prices, which are spiking as fighting disrupts production in Libya. The idea is that opening the reserve would add supply to the domestic oil market and push down prices.

EDITORIAL: Don't panic on oil - The Register-Guard