Irony in climate legislation

Since we all follow environmental news for this class, I am guessing everyone saw the news about President Obama opening up some offshore drilling as a more comprehensive plan to fight off our dependence on foreign oil and reduce climate-change effects. Obama said the decisions is "part of a broader strategy that will move us from an economy that runs on fossil fuels and foreign oil to one that relies more on homegrown fuels and clean energy," according to The New York Times. Does that logic seem twisted to anyone else?

Clearly, this is a political issue. The Times article demonstrates well the reasoning behind the decisions -- to reach across the aisle for more Republican support for a climate-change bill -- and even the political implications of where the administration wants to open drilling. For example, they avoided Maine and part of Florida in order to appease some swing votes.

But here's what gets me. I presume that offshore drilling is not cheap, although I don't have a figure. But we also have only guesses about how much oil is actually down there. High estimates for the Atlantic and part of the Gulf of Mexico estimate 4 billion barrels of oil. There is also natural gas reserves, but let's focus on the oil. 4 billion barrels -- that sounds like a lot of oil. But not for the U.S. The World Fact Book estimates that the United States uses 19.5 billion barrels a day. Multiplied by 365 days per year, that is more than 7 billion barrels annually.

I have two main fears associated with this announcement. 1) People will think this is a solution for rising gas prices, and it isn't. If there are 4 billion barrels, extraction will be spread out over many years, leading to little impact on gas prices. 2) It continues U.S. reliance on oil. Instead of investing in new energy technologies, companies will focus on offshore drilling, and if they don't find enough or as much oil as expected, they will push for new areas to be opened to offshore rigs.

Note: I ignored the natural gas claims. I don't have a comparison for how much they say is available through offshore drilling. If anyone has more information, please share it!