The first battle of the coming oil wars?

US News economics writer Jim Pethokoukis on Georgia:

We also now have greater clarity on the need to dramatically reduce our dependence on foreign oil. As fast as possible without ruining the economy. It's "all of the above" time, gang—domestic drilling, nukes, concentrated solar, deep geothermal, clean coal, and whatever else Silicon Valley and heroic capitalists everywhere can dream up as we conduct a market-driven transition to a post-hydrocarbon economy. Now the inside-the-beltway types tend to pooh-pooh all this, as if anyone suggesting energy independence is an isolationist, nativist rube who wants to turn America into Juche North Korea. But why they would want to risk the American economy potentially held hostage to, say, a couple of oil pipelines running through Soviet-occupied—I mean, Russian-occupied—Georgia is baffling to me.

Yes, I know leftists imagine that Afghanistan was the first battle in the "oil wars" and Iraq the second but Georgia is the first battle that actually shut down an oil pipeline. And, yes, we better start drilling here now or else we'll be up to our necks in the coming oil wars.

From Debunking three 'truths' about offshore drilling in the Washington Post:

The strongest argument against drilling is that it could distract the country from a pursuit of alternative sources of energy. There's no question that the administration has been lax on that front. True leadership would emphasize both alternative sources and rational approaches to developing oil and natural gas. No, the United States cannot drill its way to energy independence. But with the roaring economies of China and India gobbling up oil in the two countries' latter-day industrial revolutions, the United States can no longer afford to turn its back on finding all the sources of fuel necessary to maintain its economy and its standard of living. What's required is a long-term, comprehensive plan that includes wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels and nuclear — and that acknowledges that oil and gas will be instrumental to the U.S. economy for many years to come.

Let's hope the Watermelons finally realize that we have to build nuclear plants now. If they complain about "nuclear waste," we can send them and it to the moon.