U.S. gas prices and our environemtal policies

I had a visit from State polotician last year. He was going door to door marketing himself for re-election. Dont get me wrong, I do not trust the word of a polotician but he gave me his take on high gas prices. He explained his opinion that USA does not have a shortage of oil and the only reason we have to rely on imports is because of environmental laws put into place. Laws limiting the amount of oil pumped out each day. Then he went into more detail explaining that the laws were made by the corrupt system because of environmental lobbyists and the amount of money funneled from them to washington. It made since to me What are your thoughts about this?