Also see this... "Markets cannot create oil: U.S. needs a real national energy policy".
http://www.registerguard.com/news/20...ection=opinion
The approaching peak of world oil production, combined with the United States' sensitivity to price and supply shocks, points to the inadequacy of a market-based energy policy. Once an oil field is past its peak, increased production can't be obtained at any price. By waiting for the market, through higher prices, to impose limits on consumption, encourage efficiency and promote the development of alternative energy sources, the United States resigns itself to the inevitability of economic pain, places itself at the mercy of foreign suppliers and cedes ground to less energy-intensive competitors.
The United States' near-exclusive reliance on the free market to solve the world's energy problems threatens to leave the country unprotected against severe blows to its economy, security and way of life. Americans did not rely on the free market to put astronauts on the moon, or to create a system of universal education. A similarly ambitious effort is needed now to get the nation ready for a future that will require more efficient use of energy and a diversified portfolio of supplies. It's necessary to anticipate the market rather than merely having faith in it, because waiting for the market to do the job means waiting too long.