Charles Krauthammer explains how years of Democratic opposition to onshore and coastal drilling have pushed exploration and drilling into deeper and deeper waters where the risks are greater. We talk a good game about reducing dependence on oil from foreign countries, especially hostile and unstable ones in the Middle East and Africa, but the fact remains that the U.S. uses 21 million gallons a day and only 6 million is produced domestically. The International Energy Agency estimates that in 2030 the U.S. will still be using oil for at least 30% of energy needs, despite all the new emphasis on renewables and solving the shale extraction of natural gas problem.

National security demands that we open up onshore and coastal areas which hold great promise to exploration and drilling. They involve far less risk than deepwater Gulf of Mexico. But we need to drill in deep water, too. Obama's declaration of a six-month moratorium on all offshore exploration and development is nonsensical, is meant to indulge the ideological left and is harmful to national security.