The Arctic may hold far more oil than previously thought - as much as 90 billion undiscovered barrels according to a new study released today by the US Geological Survey. The new amount, equivalent to nearly 20 years of US foreign oil imports, is worth over $11 trillion dollars at current oil prices. One third of the amount may lie in Alaska alone, according to the study's authors. The region also holds nearly 1,700 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, 27% of known world gas reserves. Counting known deposits already surveyed, total oil and gas deposits in the Arctic are more than 410 billion barrels.

While in a perfect world that sounds nice and all - it won't happen. If we drill and find another abundent source of oil, the focus will turn away from finding alternative sources. It will be much easier to just use what we have and let future generations worry about the problem. It's the same idea as our national debt and problems with social security - "don't fix the problem now because when it really becomes a big issue I won't be in office and it won't matter to me"  Yeah it's a shame but that's pretty much how the world works now :-(