Over the last four weeks, the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates have dominated the political landscape, and last night Obama and Romney met in Boca Raton, Florida for the final round of a contentious discussion about who is best suited to lead America for the next four years. For the most part, the debate was void of substance, and both candidates stepped on stage with very different strategies – but in the end, neither candidate was overly impressive.
President Obama was forceful with his arguments and delivered a clear signal that he has a good command of foreign policy issues. Governor Romney displayed more of a “rope a dope” strategy, not biting on attempts to pull him into too much detail, agreeing with the President on many issues, and cautiously avoiding any major gaffes that would have skewered him in the media. Both candidates discussed a wide range of issues in the Middle East and more than 30 minutes of the 90-minute debate was devoted to the topic, but there was one concern missing from the discussion – the need to reduce America’s reliance on Middle Eastern oil and achieve energy independence.
Every year, American sends billions of dollars to countries engulfed in turmoil and populated by people who clearly don’t like us or the values that are so important to our way of life. These countries threaten our national and fiscal security by exploiting our growing demand for energy and increasing reliance on their oil resources to feed that demand. Undoubtedly, we understand the expansion of domestic energy production can significantly boost jobs, grow our economy, and reduce burgeoning federal deficits – but more homegrown energy can also improve national security.
World petroleum consumption is around 84 million barrels a day and the United States consumes about 25% of that production, which makes us the number one consuming country in the world. Over 2 million barrels a day are imported from countries that have expressed disdain for America – these are places such as Venezuela and the Middle East. Energy is at the center of life for most American families and business owners; it directly or indirectly drives the cost of gas, food, and utilities. Relying on countries that are clearly not our allies place American strategic interests in jeopardy.
Emerging technology in energy exploration is creating new options for domestic production and bringing forth the possibility that America can achieve energy independence. Technologies such as horizontal drilling is helping oil companies to restart what they once thought were exhausted oil wells and its largely responsible for lifting U.S. oil production 25% since 2008, which has reduced the cost of oil imports by $75 billion. The careful expansion of offshore oil exploration along the Atlantic Coast could further improve output to meet growing energy demand.
Other technologies such as hydraulic fracturing have been around 60 years; a process that allows energy production companies to extract natural gas from shale developments, higher oil costs is making the process more cost efficient. The United States is estimated to have enough natural gas to meet 100 percent of current domestic demand for at least 90 years and shale gas accounts for 10% of the overall U.S. energy supply. The unprecedented growth of shale gas will save Americans from spending $100 billion on importing liquefied natural gas and deeply incentivize companies to remain in the country instead of searching for lower energy cost countries to operate.
The 1973 oil crisis motivated President Jimmy Carter to consolidate energy policy into the U.S. Department of Energy in 1977 and they were given one simple mission – reduce America’s reliance on foreign oil. They were given a budget of $5 billion in the first year, under the current administration; DOE’s budget has ballooned to $25 billion. Are we any less reliant on foreign oil? The only way to achieve that coveted goal is to increase domestic production, which requires less burdensome regulations so that we can access more homegrown energy assets.
