With the latest extension of OPEC’s production cut set to continue for an additional nine months President Trump believes it is a good time to reopen the discussion on Alaskan drilling. It has long been suspect that the vast 19-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) contains large untapped reserves of oil. By opening this area for commercial development President Trump proposes attempting to help alleviate two problems simultaneously.

The new White House budget proposed this week suggests taking in nearly $2 billion in federal revenues selling oil and gas leases in the oil-rich section of the ANWR. This will avoid taking on another $2 billion dollars in debt while decreasing America’s dependence upon foreign oil.

It may surprise some people given that the United States lifted the ban on exporting petroleum in 2015 that the United States still has a massive deficit of oil produced to oil consumed. Even with oil production in the United States approaching record highs of more than 9.3 million barrels per day produced that still leaves a shortfall of more than 10 million barrels a day.

This leaves the United States vulnerable to massive shortfalls in the event of a repeat of the situation in the early 1970s, when members of OPEC banned oil exports to the United States.  Unfortunately a great deal of the oil produced and consumed in the world today comes from suppliers with which the US government frequently has hostile relation such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela. In fact, just these three nation produce more than 18% of the world’s oil and nearly double the daily shortfall in the United States.

With Republicans in control of Congress and the White House there is a feeling that environmental concerns are overblown. Further, President Trump is known for prioritizing issues such as energy independence, correcting the trade deficit, and national security. Under these conditions it seems more likely than ever that oil production in the ANWR may soon become a reality.