As the price of oil continues to fall, it is worth pointing out the tremendous influence that U.S. production—and hence, U.S. government policy—has had on this trend. For decades, Americans have been beaten over the head with the mantra that we live in an energy-starved country,[1] where the only hope for the future is to promote energy conservation and renewable sources. Yet the boom in shale production shows just how pessimistic such a view can be. Furthermore, there are still vast reservoirs of conventional energy lying trapped on federal land by government policy.