OPEC Who?

I never thought we would see this day. Imagine the US as the world’s top producer of crude oil. Producing more than Venezuela. Producing more than the Middle East. Even more than OPEC.

The International Energy Agency has said the US (barring regulatory action by the government) will overtake Saudi Arabia within the next seven years and will be the world’s top exporter of oil.

That’s a prediction which will take the wind out of the sails of left wingers and greenies everywhere. Or it will tilt them even harder (and louder) against the oil wind mill. For years we’ve been listening to them bemoan our energy dependence on foreign countries and how we have to think green, jump on electric busses, ride bikes, subsidize windmills and solar panels and even wear sensible shoes (so we can walk more places).

Some people just don’t get it. To liberals, it’s all about saving the planet (or is it
about controlling energy production). Last time I checked, things like electric cars and
wind turbines are made using fossil fuels and minerals mined from Mother Earth, not
recycled paper.

America is doing what America does best (in spite of government interference – can you say Keystone pipeline). Harvesting oil and natural gas faster, smarter, and better than anyone else in the world. In 2012, the US produced nearly 9 million barrels of oil a day, up a whopping 14% from a year ago. Oil and natural gas production has gone up every year in the US since 2005, and September 2013 saw the largest output of oil since 1989.

We are reducing our need on foreign oil imports. Instead of trying to tree hugger subsidize with taxpayer and rate payer money our way to a brave new “green” world that doesn’t work all that well and is very expensive (that is a waste of taxpayers money, and doesn’t create many new jobs)...we’re doing it ourselves in the oil and natural gas industry.

Take May as an example. Using better technology, our top ten oil producing states provided 90% (the highest monthly rate since Ronald Reagan was in the White House) of our own energy needs. That means we are on the very edge of energy independence. One industry leader described this as “the energy equivalent of the Berlin Wall coming down.” A symbol for more freedom and opportunity for more people.

True energy independence is great news, yet you don’t know it if you depend upon the mainstream media to tell you. The story gets some play in the business media because energy, its cost and availability, have so much to do with success or lack of success in industry (and our own budget, think 4 or 5 dollar gallons of gas). It should be on the front page of every newspaper in the country instead of buried inside with the baseball scores.

This kind of energy bonanza would have been unthinkable a few years ago-- the technology simply wasn’t there to draw the extra oil from shale and gas. Today, we are the world’s number one producer of oil and natural gas, seven months running.

There's enough oil in America to last us a thousand years.

This oil boon is also good news for American workers. The national median wage is just over $32,000 a year and oil workers average nearly $57,000. And annually, the oil industry creates thousands of additional jobs just to support its own workers in local economies.

American technology (fracking) has once again defined success and that is helping our economy grow. Without government handouts, and in spite of the attitude in Washington toward oil and natural gas production, we are once again a world leader.

According to one study, frac sand mining is responsible for 20,000 jobs in Wisconsin. About 10% of these jobs are directly linked to frac sand mining and the remaining jobs support the industry. The same study estimates that by 2020, frac sand mining will support 33,000 Wisconsin jobs.

That is good news, my friends. I know those on the left are appalled. Sometimes I think they just don’t like real progress, they prefer subsidized progress. I see an energy independent America and people working, and that’s a good thing.