…but one could argue it is buried under ground. Yesterday ICF International released a study showing that the development of domestic oil and natural gas resources that have been kept off-limits by Congress could generate more than $1.7 trillion in government revenue.

The ICF study examined the possible development of all the offshore areas that had been subject to Congressional moratoria until last year, as well as the resources in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and a small portion of currently unavailable federal lands in the Rockies. Allowing private industry to develop U.S. natural resources would lift U.S. crude oil production by 36% by 2030 and create 160,000 jobs. The Examiner editorializes:

The recent dramatic drop in oil prices temporarily changed the short-term politics of the energy issue, but not the long-term supply/demand equation. Most of America’s economic activity depends upon oil and natural gas, and those fuels even play a significant role in the production of alternatives like ethanol. These fuels simply cannot be replaced any time soon without severe economic disruption. The only real question during the lengthy transition phase is do we develop our own domestic reserves or continue to import oil and gas from foreign nations? The answer is, as they say, a no-brainer.