While Americans continue to suffer from an artificial energy crisis, perhaps it's time we take advice from the unlikeliest of places: Cuba.

The Cuban government announced last week that it had signed contracts with Russia to allow the Russians to explore for oil and gas off its coast, possibly as close as 45 miles from American shores.

This is indeed significant, as the area where Russian exploration will take place contains huge amounts of oil and gas. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that there are 5 billion barrels of oil and 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in this region.

To put this in perspective, in the entire Outer Continental Shelf in the United States, there are an estimated 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.  But Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, bowing to anti-energy influences, has needlessly delayed the offshore leasing process.

It simply makes no sense that Cuba has a more rational energy policy than the United States.  Go to YourEnergyOpinion.com to tell the Department of Interior that you support environmentally responsible offshore drilling, and that you do not want to see a return to $4 per gallon gasoline.  And be sure to sign the Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less petition to show your support for a rational, pro-American energy policy.