I will fully support things like this, if you can answer me these questions:

With barely 20% of the EXISTING oil leases being actively developed or pumped, what incentive will the oil industry have to pump one extra drop out of a new hole? How can you prove that these types of initiatives aren't simply a grab for even more land leases, locking and blocking the potential for REAL competition that might lower costs? Pumping more lowers their profits. There is ZERO incentive for any business to willingly reduce their own profits. Lock up FUTURE supplies of profit with guarantees of exclusive access, now that they can be interested in!

Or better yet... How will ANY start-up development (IF it progresses beyond the land-lease agreement at all) affect the oil prices in the slightest, when NOT ONE DROP will see daylight on the market for a decade or more?

Drill baby drill? That only works if the Oil Industry is that big ugly guy in prison, and America just dropped the soap. No matter how you slice it, the Taxpayer gets screwed.

You going to have to pay the oil companies to develop domestic resources now. Oil is too cheap. Not that it will make any difference in supply since the US has only 5% of the world's reserves.

Google "bakken reserve" "shale reserves" and "coal reserves" and you might get a different perspective on that 5% number. Oil or some form of it will be flowing for as long as we need it.

But at what cost? Shale, tar sands, coal all require much more energy to make liquid fuels than foreign crude. These resources will never be developed with oil at such a low price.

The Governor of Wyoming said that his state has enough coal to supply the Nation with diesel fuel for the next 50+ years. According to him, the process for making diesel from coal is cheap, clean, and provides other benefits. However, trying to open new refineries to accommodate these new forms of technology is nearly impossible with all the government restrictions.

Very true......with today's technology. However, the bakken is good old liquid gold, and lots of it it seems. I was more interested in your 5% number. Now don't go moving the goal posts on me!

I thought we were talking about oil reserves. Shale and tar require different/new technology and are not currently recoverable. According to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves the US has only 1.7% of the worlds oil reserves.

You might want to check out what our largest supplier, Canada, is doing with tar sands before you say it is not "recoverable". And they have a hell of a lot of it, and we have even more shale. When the price is right we will develop ways to bring it to market---rest assured on that. I have never fallen for this myth that we are running out of oil, and I have heard that since I was 10 yrs old.

Also, the not-so-nice bottom line is: The worlds resources belong to the country with the most powerful military. In a crises, if our very survival depended on it, we would go get it. Just like soldiers have gone after resources since the beginning of man.