Good News – U. S. Dependence on Oil from the Middle East is Dropping Fast – The Result of New Sources of Energy in the Western Hemisphere

Now Just Don’t Mess Up the Environment

Remember the strident demands of people like Sarah Palin (drill baby drill) and other harsh Conservatives who want to exploit America’s most pristine environmental areas to increase domestic production of oil?  Their goal is to reduce U. S. reliance on oil from the Middle East.  But they have not succeeded, a good working majority of Americans are not all that much in favor of destroying the environment so their gas guzzling SUV’s can get cheap fuel.

So the conventional wisdom must be that U. S. dependence on middle east oil is rising, because the country was too ignorant to listen to the Sarah Palin’s of the world.  Uh no.  Reliance on oil from the middle east is dropping fast, and in fewer than 25 years it is possible that the U. S. will not be importing any oil from that dangerous and unstable region.

By 2020, nearly half of the crude oil America consumes will be produced at home, while 82% will come from this side of the Atlantic, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. By 2035, oil shipments from the Middle East to North America "could almost be nonexistent," the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries recently predicted, partly because more efficient car engines and a growing supply of renewable fuel will help curb demand.

Wow, that can’t be right, how can the U. S. gain energy independence without polluting the land and sea?  Here’s how

The shift, a result of technological advances that are unlocking new sources of oil in shale-rock formations, oil sands and deep beneath the ocean floor, carries profound consequences for the U.S. economy and energy security. A good portion of this surprising bounty comes from the widespread use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a technique perfected during the last decade in U.S. fields previously deemed not worth tampering with.

Of course, Mitt Romney, who thinks it’s still the 1980’s can’t take U. S. energy success for a good thing.

The domestic oil picture has become part of the presidential campaign this year. President Barack Obama likes to point out that output has surged during his first term. "We've added enough new oil and gas pipeline to encircle the Earth and then some," he said in a speech earlier this year. Mitt Romney, the presumed GOP candidate, says the U.S. must do more to promote domestic exploration and says Mr. Obama is holding back the industry.

but then Mr. Romney and the Conservatives are not people who let facts get in the way of a good argument. 

It is true a lot of oil will come from Canada, but Canadians are nice people, they buy a lot of U. S. made goods and services and as far as anyone knows they do not want to destroy the state of Israel and obliterate every single Jewish person in the world.  They have never, to our knowledge been interested in bombing the U.S. and they are wonderful tourists and buy a lot of stuff that is made in the United States.  If one has to buy energy from foreigners they are a good place to buy it from.