yes, it appears the big oil companies already HAVE thousands of leases to drill and they haven't, preferring to obtaining more leases instead of using their current options--and the right knows this, yet are still pushing to expand their options (to drill) instead of searching for alternative energy sources. Many americans (those under 40) probably don't remember we (america) went through this same situation (gas prices rising rapidly) back in the 70's, and we kinda made a half hearted effort at alternative energy, but after prices stablized, we went back to bigger gas guzzlers. The high cost is here to stay, whether we like it or not--and the only way to combat this is to reduce demand, not by drilling for more oil, but by looking at renewable energy in wind, solar and water.