The Govenator spent tons of money convincing Californians to spend money they didn't have to hold a special election to get rid of Grey Davis and since then Arnold hasn't done anything to help resolve California's issues. He can't even come up with a budget without taking more money from our kids and their educations--so I really don't pay much mind to his opinion on the subject of off shore drilling. Personally if other countries are going to get away with drilling off our coast lines then I believe we should as well--at least then we can hold the American companies responsible instead of trying to hold communist countries who could care less about how we feel about it or not responsible for any accidents that may happen. However, with that being said, I really don't want to see an oil rigs off the coast of California anymore than anyone else does.

Whoa! T an almost orginal thought! Even though its dumb. There is WAY more than traditional market forces at work here. Oh wait you can barley read. Why when demand has been falling then and productin fairly level has the price gone up? Someone is screwing the world right now.

Its ok though you tried.

Ok CA, I think it only fair that coastal states that don't want to allow offshore drilling pay 3 or 4 x the amount per gallon that we in the Gulf of Mexico do. You have no problem using gas from our drilling, so pay for it or share in the reserves of the US and quit giving dollars to the "Kingdom".

Texans should only have to pay $2.00 a gallon since we are willing to drill and refine the oil for everyone else who doesn't want to harm the endangered birds in the trees that get struck by lightning and go up in flames! Tree huggers!

And thats why Texas is a crappy place to vacation! Come to montana much better.

Why don't republicans, first to mention money, EVER mention this costly war?

$531,623,199,451...

But Lex then you have to say people that drive the nice big SUV have to pay 5 bucks a gallon and the guy with the little toyota should only have to pay 2 bucks. If supply and demand rules anyway. If you use more than me your demand is higher so you should pay more.
But I thought it was if you use more you get a better price. T wanna help out?

The high priced oil is here partly because of that little monkey in the White House who destroyed Iraq production and is threatening Iran all the year long. Clap, clap, clap.

No California coastal drilling even if it might help the nation? So be it. Let Gov. S'negger and the other Californians remember that the next time they demand a national response to one of their regular natural catastrophes -- fire, earthquake, mudslide, el nino, etc.

no matter where they drill for oil the soonest we will see any of that oil hit the market is 4 years and we wont see any effect on supply or prices for about ten years. this will help nothing in the next 4 years as prices go up car makers will begin making alternatives and the use of oil will go way down world wide and we wouldnt have needed to wreck our natural beauty to get it. my grandma died in 1991 she was 103 at the time she told me how hard people fought going to gas from horses the people who fought it would stand to lose money from losing business from lose of horses. the republicans are the puppets of the big oil barons come on people we need to move on from oil and start moving into the future.

Drilling may make the price of oil go down. According to an analysis of the effect of drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, the price of gas will drop by a whole 2 cents per gallon. The gross savings is probably less than Exxon spent in legal fees figuring out how to screw Alaskan fishermen out of the jury verdict rendered against it. Talk about judicial activism. With yesterday's opinion the oil companies will really be detered from ruining the CA coast . . . or maybe not.
Jared, how have you liked having your wallet pried open to fund an endless war? Well, at least we got cheaper oil as a consequence. . . or maybe not.

i say every american stop driving for a day everyone lets unite as americans and do something dems repubs blacks whites rich poor young old lets unite and fight this thing together remember it affects all of us!!!

Don't people realize that it takes years for new old fields to come into production? What we really need are the liberals' "new energy sources" that will produce energy immediately - once they've told us what, exactly, those sources are.

John McFlipFlop he will say and do anything to get elected.

T: Once again, someone who doesn't understand supply and demand. OK... here goes...

Econ 101: Certain items -- referred to as 'elastic' -- do respond to the supply & demand curves as you would expect. The price of hot dogs goes up, the quantity demanded for hot dogs goes down, even though the quantity supplied at that price goes up. In other words... if the price goes up, suppliers will be willing to provide more, but consumers are willing to buy less AT THAT PRICE.

Other items -- those that are 'inelastic' -- have a more steady demand curve. Gasoline is one of these. In general, people don't buy significantly less gas when the price goes up... they only need a certain amount. An average American who commutes the same distance today as he did twenty years ago is buying the same amount of gas now as then, even though the price is substantially higher. Regular supply & demand would show that the consumer would be buying substantially less gas at today's prices, but it's just not the case.

Sure, you may be cutting back on recreational driving... and driving a more fuel-efficient car... but that has minimal effect.

If gas were 'elastic'... and supply versus demand affected the price... then those of us who are driving less and getting more MPGs would be paying less than twenty years ago. Not the case, is it?

Will more oil production drive down the price? No. The suppliers have a current equilibrium price (which translates into our current approx. $4/gallon). If the production levels were to climb, the suppliers will hold the price. Try to force them to lower the price.... or enforce a price ceiling... then they'll just stop supplying. For better understanding, consult an Econ textbook for the proper graphics.

another thing people dont realize is how many things that are made of plastic and chemicals now and guess what most chemicals and plastics are made of oil so if we keep on burn prehistoric oil in our gas guzzling cars we will use it all up and there goes plastic and most chemicals, and those items will be much harder to replace then the fuel for an automobile.

angie is right though. If we as americans just quit for a day maybe two and didn't let these speculators know about it I think you would see $60 barrel of oil.

What Bush and his cronies in the oil industry fail to mention is that they already have access to tens of millions of acres for oil exploration THAT FOR YEARS THEY HAVE YET TO EXPLORE! They simply are trying to tie up these water rights while the Idiot Prince is still in office and Dubya is feathering his nest lucrative oil companies Board of Director positions when he out of office.

Both things have to occur simultaneously. More fossil fuels from our own country and alternative energies being developed in parallel. You can't do one and not the other. It is transitional. People will still be using older fuels while the new technologies are taking hold. Poorer citizens will not be able to afford the new technologies at first, until they are entrenched and produced en masse, leading to prices dropping and becoming affordable to all. This will take decades, and the need for fossil fuels will not decline for a very long time, while this process occurs. We must prepare for the future, both short-term and long-term, to have a comprehensive policy that protects us from dependency on other nations.

I have no problem with limited offshore drilling for oil, but only under a Democratic controlled Congress and WH. If ExxonMobile had been drilling offshore under oilmen Bush & Cheney, gas prices today would still be high only ExxonMobil would be earning gazillions of dollars instead a of billions and with no environmental oversight.