just a couple of flaws that I see.
1. what would make you think any savings in price would ever make it to the consumer?
2. why would any oil producing country lower there prices after we'd blown our reserves? they'd have us over a barrel (maybe a little pun intended). with no reserves we'd become even more desperately Dependant on foreign oil, and they could do whatever they want.
you simply can not reduce your dependence on foreign oil by using up your own oil, and doing nothing about your consumption rates.
aside from reducing consumption, the next best thing you can do is use foreign oil to supply as much of your needs as possible. the result of this will be that as each day goes by you would find your own country in control of more and more of the worlds oil. since each day you use foreign oil their available supplies dwindle and yours stay constant. burning up your own just has the opposite effect.
you need to keep in mind, that when you are told that using oil from American sources reduces our dependence on foreign oil, that you are usually being told this by a guy who makes his living (or has strong ties to people that do) selling you that domestic oil. he may know the business but his advice is self-serving. mathematicaly it just doesn't work out though. it is just impossible when dealing with a limited resource, to use up your own supply and still control a growing share of the supply.
it's actually the biggest problem I have with drilling in Alaska. not so much drilling in a preserve(it can be done relatively cleanly, if properly monitored), but that it will be more oil that we control that is used up now, and further increases our dependence on outside sources in the future.
I know the prices suck now, things are pretty far apart out west and on an average I drive about 25-40k miles per year, so we really feel the increased price. but it is only going to get worse, paying up now will not only leave us in a stronger bargaining position in the future, but while higher prices are really hurting us now they are really the only way to reduce consumption.
as it is petroleum is still relatively cheap when compared with most other sources of fuel. as the price rises many alternative sources become worth considering, and the profitability of exploring new energy ideas rises (personally, I can tell you that nothing in the last 30 some years has done more to spur my mind into thinking of how to get more business done on less gallons of gas than $2.35 a gallon)
