Why Offshore Drilling Can Bridge Gap to U.S. Energy Future: Op-Ed

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/4279775.html

Through this article I learned about the positives of off shore drilling and how that may help the oil dependency of the U.S. and future energy of the U.S. This article first brings up the many different proposals that have been made so far including plans by T. Boone Pickens, Senator Obama, and Senator McCain. The article states that the Apollo project may not be the best plan to relate to because current day NASA is not what it used to be and the U.S. currently needs something that will consistently subside energy problems with oil dependency.
Energy plans and policies that have been made since the Nixon administration have made things worse; therefore caution is a great asset in making decisions on creating more policies for today. One of these policies that hurt our oil was the ban of offshore drilling in 1982 which cut us off from around 76 trillion cu. feet of natural gas. It says that our main issue is we are creating not nearly as much as is needed for our country. Alternative fuels were tried such as ethanol from corn, but this caused the cost of food to sky rocket and energy prices too.
Senator Obama's promise of money towards development of plans seems to mean well, but who gets the money is the question. Enron was recently thought to be a great contribution to the energy field; if money went to a company like that there would be consequences.

Things I would like to know after reading this article:

1. What is the "Apollo Project"?
2. What are biofuels?
3. Exactly how much and how long will oil from the U.S. fill the gap?
4. What does cu. stand for?
5. What energy policies were those that worsened the structure since the Nixon Administration, and how could these policies be fixed in order to make them have a more positive effect on todays policies?
6. What are the faults of the many other plans that have come about and how could a plan work to be better than the others?
7. How could Solar and Wind power be bettered and why is that not the right path?
8. If Pickens is on the right track, then what is wrong with wind power?
9. Does the fact that Pickens's money rests on wind energy have any affect on the desicions he makes, does it make it a bad plan?