Drilling for Oil

The Caller Times from Corpus Christi, Texas reports all the companies which have requested a permit to drill for Oil and Gas in the area. (Read Story) I lost count but there were numerous requests. The question here is "Why are we debating drilling for Oil offshore and in Alaska when there is plenty of it in Texas and other areas which are already allowed to be explored?" Obviously these companies wouldn't be spending the money to explore for Oil & Gas if they didn't think it was there. These companies have thousands of places they have the rights to drill currently, but haven't used them yet. Let them use those first. I'm not opposed to drilling offshore or in Alaska, but Congress has bigger things to worry about. Stop wasting time on unnecessary debates.