How U.S. is Moving Towards Energy Independence
Forbes writes: “In his State of the Union speech, President Obama straight up touted his ‘all-of-the-above energy strategy’ as being responsible for getting America ‘closer to energy independence than we’ve been in decades.’ He said that ‘taken together, our energy policy is creating jobs and leading to a cleaner, safer planet.’”
“The country may be closer to energy independence, and the energy industry certainly has created a lot of jobs, but it’s certainly not due to any ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy pushed by the Obama administration.”
The piece continues: “What is responsible for getting America closer to energy independence is the boom in the production of oil and natural gas. This boom has happened without the administration’s help. The president rightly noted the contribution of natural gas, saying that ‘if extracted safely, it’s the bridge fuel that can power our economy with less of the carbon pollution that causes climate change.’ That ‘extracted safely’ bit is, of course, code word for concerns over fracking. Much to the fracktivists’ dismay, Obama — as has been his custom in previous SOTUs — did not mention fracking, neither for approval or disapproval. But in his cheerleading for natural gas, his encouragement of natgas-powered cars and trucks, he is giving fracking his tacit backing. That’s because 90% of the oil and gas wells drilled in America today are fracked — there could be no oil and gas boom without it.”