Former San Diegan, I spent more time trying to figure out a way to put the oil thing in here than anything else because they are sort of related. But congress is busy; I agree the letter is probably more powerful if I leave the oil thing out.

Just a FYI on the oil thing. It is all about supply and demand.. so a few questions to think of:
1) When was the last time we did any large oil exploration or exploitation of resources in the US, and more specifically California?
2) When was the last time any major refining capacity was added (new refineries built) in US, and more specifically California?
3) Since the last drilling for oil, adding oil rigs and adding refining capacity.. has the consumption of fossil fuels increased in the US and more specifically California?

Presently we are importing refined product(ie Gasoline) from Mexico because of lack of refining capacity. The lack of spare capacity is the reason why the price of oil and gasoline jumps anytime the supply line is threatened (ie by Iran’s saber rattling), and Iran knows this. This is one of the reasons Iran was reiterating its threats when oil drops in price. It will be interesting to see if Iran does another ‘threat’ after this drop, particularly considering the Photoshop work done on their last ‘announcements’.

The only real fixes on the oil front is reduced consumption or increased production. Speculators have to sell the oil they bought on speculation. If there is no-one there to buy it at their price (because there is more than people need at the specified delivery date).. the speculators really get shafted because speculation on the commodities markets is highly leveraged (both up and down).