A new study shows that the United States has more energy reserves than Saudi Arabia or Russia. Most of it is still in the ground, but if we would bother to extract it, we would be truly energy-independent for the first time in our history.
The report comes from Rystad Energy, and indicates the U.S. is sitting on 264 billion barrels of oil. That's 8 billion more than Russia and 52 billion more than Saudi Arabia. And all of this falls under the category of recoverable oil, which means it's not just theoretically available but practically impossible to get to.
No. We can get it all. We just have to decide we want to.
Much of the jump in recoverable U.S. oil reserves stems from the advance in fracking technology, as well as the growing feasibility of recovering oil shale. There's 60 billion barrels worth of that in Texas alone, not to mention an abundance of it in the Bakken formation in North Dakota.
So the good news is that there's no reason we have to rely on often-hostile nations to supply our energy needs. We can redirect that focus on extracting our own resources. That not only gives us access to more abundant and cheaper oil, but it also greatly strengthens our position in a geopolitical sense, because other nations no longer can exercise the leverage of having something we absolutely need to be able to get from them.
That's the good news, and it's very good news. But there is also bad news, and the bad news is that our current leaders don't appear the slightest bit interested in taking advantage of it. The Obama Administration is outwardly hostile toward the fossil fuels industry, refusing to allow new oil leases on federally controlled lands. It also welched on a commitment to allow offshore drilling along the east coast of the United States.
Obama's prospective successor, Hillary Clinton, is not only hostile to oil but to all traditional fuel sources--even making a public vow to get rid of coal industry jobs.
What is this all about? I think four things are at work here:
First, Democrats know that much of their left-wing base consists of extreme environmental activists who hate the oil industry, and blame it for every ill on Earth. They are loathe to upset these people.
Second, Democrats hate capitalism, and oil companies are the ultimate capitalists. They not only make a lot of money themselves, but they literally fuel the profits of every other kind of free-market capitalist. It bothers Democrats that the production, distribution and sale of oil products is not controlled by the government. If you'd like to know about a country where it works this way, I would direct your attention to Venezuela, where they're presently having food riots.
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Third, Democrats aren't really all that interested in strengthening America's hand on the geopolitical stage. Global power is worthless unless you're willing to use it to exercise global leadership. Barack Obama certainly isn't interested in doing that. His actions on the global stage consist of apologizing for America's actions, of making insanely terrible deals with Iran and Cuba, and of backing down to the imperialist ambitions of Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Fourth, Democrats have little love for the freedom Americans enjoy as a result of having their own cars and being able to use them to their hearts' content. Democrats would rather see people spend their time crammed into older inner cities and ride public transportation. So to them, it's not good news when oil is cheap and plentiful. That just makes it easier for people to do what Democrats don't want them to do.
America has a huge opportunity to achieve energy independence, which would benefit this country in ways I suspect many people have scarcely imagined. But Democrats don't want to do that. They want us dependent on nations that don't like us. Before people go to the polls and vote in November, they should think about that.
A new study shows that the United States has more energy reserves than Saudi Arabia or Russia. Most of it is still in the ground, but if we would bother to extract it, we would be truly energy-independent for the first time in our history.
The report comes from Rystad Energy, and indicates the U.S. is sitting on 264 billion barrels of oil. That's 8 billion more than Russia and 52 billion more than Saudi Arabia. And all of this falls under the category of recoverable oil, which means it's not just theoretically available but practically impossible to get to.
