Not all that long ago, president Obama repeatedly told America that we could not drill out way out of the need for imported oil and an impending energy shortage. After all, he said, the USA has only 2% of the world's oil reserves. Indeed, this was one of Obama's points which he made frequently in his 2012 bid for re-election.
Contrast Obama's stated position with the news today that the USA now has larger oil reserves than Saudi Arabia. Add to that the news that American oil reserves have been growing quickly as more and more shale oil deposits are found and you have a prescription for American energy self-sufficiency in the near future.
So Obama says we have 2% of the reserves and less than four years later we have close to 15%. Obama says we cannot drill our way out of energy shortages and less than four years later that is on the horizon. How did the president get it so wrong? If you want to be kind to Obama, let's just say that he never understood the full effect of fracking and horizontal drilling in unleashing the oil (and natural gas) contained in the shale under our continent. Sure, he had been in office for four years already and the ramp up in oil and gas production was well underway, but maybe he just didn't bother to pay attention to the facts before he made speeches about our energy future. But, as I said, that would be extremely kind to Obama. The truth, more likely, is that Obama did not want to let it be known just how much oil the USA actually has. That would have undercut Obama's big pitch for "green" jobs and the entire liberal mantra about global warming. The truth would have increased pressure for opening up federal lands to drilling with the concomitant benefit of major job creation, major increases in incomes for millions of people and faster economic growth. Obama wanted to stop the use of oil, not to make use of the natural riches under our land. For Obama, the "experts" had said that we needed to move to green energy, and Obama did not care whether or not such a move made sense.
Thank God, he only has a few more months in office. Even Hillary Clinton would be an improvement, and that is saying a lot.
Contrast Obama's stated position with the news today that the USA now has larger oil reserves than Saudi Arabia. Add to that the news that American oil reserves have been growing quickly as more and more shale oil deposits are found and you have a prescription for American energy self-sufficiency in the near future.
So Obama says we have 2% of the reserves and less than four years later we have close to 15%. Obama says we cannot drill our way out of energy shortages and less than four years later that is on the horizon. How did the president get it so wrong? If you want to be kind to Obama, let's just say that he never understood the full effect of fracking and horizontal drilling in unleashing the oil (and natural gas) contained in the shale under our continent. Sure, he had been in office for four years already and the ramp up in oil and gas production was well underway, but maybe he just didn't bother to pay attention to the facts before he made speeches about our energy future. But, as I said, that would be extremely kind to Obama. The truth, more likely, is that Obama did not want to let it be known just how much oil the USA actually has. That would have undercut Obama's big pitch for "green" jobs and the entire liberal mantra about global warming. The truth would have increased pressure for opening up federal lands to drilling with the concomitant benefit of major job creation, major increases in incomes for millions of people and faster economic growth. Obama wanted to stop the use of oil, not to make use of the natural riches under our land. For Obama, the "experts" had said that we needed to move to green energy, and Obama did not care whether or not such a move made sense.
Thank God, he only has a few more months in office. Even Hillary Clinton would be an improvement, and that is saying a lot.
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