President Obama's war on oil production is going badly. Or the news that the US will become the world's leading oil producer by 2020 explodes attacks asserting President Obama wages war on domestic oil production. online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323894704578114492856065064.html.
Domestic oil production has soared every year the President has been in office, will do so for four more years, and even into President Hillary Clinton's first term (sort of kidding).
And the boom in US oil production is not just taking place on private lands. Oil production from public lands is up too, since the President took office.
The President has supported the historic boom in US oil production by mainly not getting in the way. But not getting in the way is sometimes the most important thing a President can do.
Yet, in the case of President Obama, he has done more. He handled the historic and awful Gulf Oil disaster in a wise manner. And that is no small achievement, earned in the most challenging of circumstances.
While President Obama has overseen the incredible domestic oil production boom, he has also aggressively moved to reduce US consumption of oil by raising fuel efficiency standards as well as supporting oil substitutes like natural gas vehicles, electric vehicles, and biofuels. As a result, US oil consumption is falling, even as oil production is booming.
To state what hopefully is the obvious, working to reduce US oil consumption is not to attack US oil production, but some think not only "drill baby drill" but also "guzzle baby guzzle."
And from booming domestic oil production and falling consumption comes the prize of declining oil imports and rising energy independence. The US even became a net exporter of gasoline and other products in 2011 for the first time since 1949 or when EIA began tracking the data. No President has been more successful in driving down imports, increasing energy independence, and making the US an energy powerhouse than President Obama.
And to credit the President is not to ignore the truth that the risk taking, innovation, and capital investment of the oil and gas industry is the primary reason for the boom in domestic US oil and gas production. They really have and are building it.
But the election is over, and President Obama's victory probably changes not at all the fact that the President has little or no support within the oil and gas industry. Yet, now just possibly the hyperbolic oil attacks on the President can stop, and even some credit due to him could be given. Just a thought or two.
I nominate John Hanger for head of the EPA
ReplyDeleteJohn--enough with the cheerleading. The election is over, and your side won. Janet Daley (UK Telegraph) hit it on the head: "The United States has now acquired an electorally powerful liberal bourgeoisie who are convinced, as their European counterparts have been for several generations, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, that public spending is inherently virtuous, that poverty can be cured by penalising wealth creation, and that government intervention can engineer social “fairness”. But just when some of Europe’s political class has begun to appreciate the dangers of this philosophy – that taken to its logical conclusion, it leads to economic stagnation and social division – America seems to have decided that it is the quintessence of enlightened sophistication."
ReplyDeleteAmen. Now, can we just get back to energy?
Brian, Why did the economy do so much better under Clinton than it did under George Bush if what you say is true? Clinton raised taxes to the level Obama wants to return to and the economy thrived. Bush cut taxes (but also radically increased spending) and the economy collapsed. Romney seemed to have the same idea in mind - cut taxes and increase spending even more. He wanted an additional 2 trillion in defense spending and to restore 716 billion of wasteful spending on medicare that Obama cut. Obama is the ultimate moderate, not some wild-eyed socialist.
ReplyDeletePA Independent@PAindependent reports 11/19/12
ReplyDeleteJohn Hanger goes from "Maybe" to "Looks Like It" in 2014 Democratic Guvstakes. #pagov http://bit.ly/S5QZ5s
Good luck John.
ReplyDelete