Not Energy Independent, Yet
by Rick Uldricks and Hudson Councilman Casey Weinstein (Twinsburg Patch) In truth, when it comes to energy security, there is good news to be found, but not at the bottom of a well. — Fossil fuel boosters love to say that energy independence is nearly a reality, thanks to a massive expansion of fracking. …
But it’s 100 percent, categorically false.
A fresh report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), part of the Department of Energy, paints a far less rosy picture. U.S. oil production declined in 2016. Imports are up, primarily from Nigeria, Iraq and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Worse, our dependence on imported oil is projected to continue growing in 2017.
Meanwhile, in a separate report, federal analysts announced that oil and natural gas firms in Russia are doubling down on investments in new wells, helping “push production to record post-Soviet levels.” At the same time, thousands of U.S. workers in the oil and gas sector have lost their jobs.
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The real U.S. energy boom is happening among renewables.
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In particular, ethanol production continues to grow year-after-year, thanks to rising efficiency by U.S. farmers who are producing record crops on less land than was cultivated in previous decades. As an added bonus, that rise in efficiency has also contributed to the “longest stretch of falling food prices in more than 50 years,” according to the Wall Street Journal, discrediting the naysayers who argued that food and biofuel production would compete rather than complement one another, as the numbers prove. READ MORE
