Why can we not cut off imports and just supply our own country with oil?

While we wouldn't be able to do it forever (which is why we import/export with other countries to keep ';friendly lines'; open) I do believe we could sustain our own country temporarily IF we were willing to make a lot of changes.


Alaska, Texas and the Gulf of Mexico provide large amounts of oil that just might help supply our own country for many years - just not forever.


But in all honesty, with as much oil and gas as we go through, I don't know how long Americans could last. Besides, none of the ';big businesses'; would go for it - they make too much money on the import/export deals.


JMOWhy can we not cut off imports and just supply our own country with oil?
Our country hasn't drilled an oil well in over 10 years i believe. We would not be able to supply our insanely high demand of oil by ourselves. The only way to keep our economy from completely toppling is by buying our oil from everybody. The funny thing is that we actually sell oil too, why not use that?Why can we not cut off imports and just supply our own country with oil?
The United States only produces 8/million barrels of oil per day. We consume 20/million, so we've got to import 12/million.





Unless Congress allows drilling in ANWR or off the west coast of Florida, than you can forget the idea of domestic oil suiting our needs.