Demonstrably False Thing 30,287: Drilling in ANWR will reduce our dependence on foreign oil (for longer than 10 minutes).

So this falls under the category of old news, but this article from the Times got me wondering again about how it is that anyone can suggest with a straight face that drilling in ANWR will suddenly solve all of our problems when it comes to foreign oil:

The administration says that the way to achieve this is by allowing drilling on off-limits lands. Last month, President Bush, speaking of Republican legislation to open more federal lands to oil drilling, said, "These measures have been repeatedly blocked by members of the Senate - and American consumers are paying the price."

. . .

Industry analysts take a third view, arguing that lifting drilling prohibitions on federal lands might help, but not right away and ultimately not very much. Their reasoning is simple. The United States sits atop just 3 percent of the world's proven oil reserves, but burns one quarter of global production. Sixty percent of what it uses daily is imported.

The countries of the Persian Gulf, on the other hand, have nearly two-thirds of the proven reserves.

Given these facts, and absent a major conservation campaign or a breakthrough in alternative fuels, the country can't sharply reduce its oil dependence.

How is that not game, set, and match? I just don't get it.