President Bush will give a speech this afternoon in the Rose Garden where he'll announce that he's lifting the executive order banning offshore drilling for oil and natural gas.

To this, I say two things. 1) Bravo! and 2) It took you 7 1/2 years to do this?!?! The Texas oil man took 7 1/2 years to lift a Presidentially-imposed restriction on domestic exploration? I'm glad the problem has finally been rectified, but you have to wonder why it took $4.00+ gasoline and an enormous amount of hand-wringing to get it done.

For all those drilling fans out there, don't get too excited just yet. The President's action is only half of the equation, as Congress needs to remove its restrictions as well.

Visit our energy site, nonewenergytaxes.com to see all of our other work on the issue. There, you'll find a link to the Gas Price Protest site, which allows you to vent about high gas prices and sign a petition in support of more domestic exploration and gas tax relief.

Stay tuned for more.