Beware the calls for offshore drilling

While McCain & Bush are sounding the call to open up the coasts and Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. oil companies have vast areas already under lease where they haven't yet drilled:

Oil companies and many lawmakers are pressing to open up more U.S. areas for drilling. But the industry is drilling on just a fraction of areas it already has access to.

Of the 90 million offshore acres the industry has leases to, mostly in the Gulf of Mexico, it is estimated that upwards of 70 million are not producing oil, according to both Democrats and oil-industry sources.

So... explain to me why the solution to $135/barrel oil and $4/gallon gasoline is giving the oil companies more land to drill on when they haven't fully explored their existing leases?

To me, it sounds like politics: use Americans' frustration with high gas prices to get around their strong opposition to drilling in these environmentally sensitive areas.

The 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara is one big reason why people are rightfully concerned. More from NPR.

And that's Straight Talk you can count on, Mr. McCain.