President didn't tell the entire oil story
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
In his State of the Union Address, President Obama said the U.S. uses 25 percent of the world's oil production but only has 2 percent of world reserves. The clear implication is that we are greedy and don't have enough oil to make a difference. To an uninformed public both thoughts are disturbing.
Unfortunately, it's an erroneous story intended to confuse. The 2 percent number is based on "proved reserves" and ignores the billions of barrels of oil we know exist and are likely to be recovered. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) says that U.S. recoverable oil resources stand at 157 billion barrels — that doesn't include the roughly 900 billion barrels or unconventional oil resources nearing economic recovery. The same CRS report says that America's combined recoverable oil, natural gas and coal endowment is the largest in the world. This doesn't even count the Canadian resources that were to come to the U.S. if the president hadn't foolishly rejected the Keystone XL pipeline.
Why this con game? Simple. Obama and his allies want Americans to believe we are running out of fossil fuels and need the unprofitable green energy they support right now. They argue the entire world is running out of oil. But noted energy expert Daniel Yergin says this is actually the fifth time in modern history this claim has been made and proven false. Since 1978, world oil output has increased 30 percent.
We need an honest debate on energy and the tradeoffs between developing our own abundant resources and environmental costs. The president is not helping that debate by perpetuating a myth.
Frank J. Jandrowitz.
Locust Grove.
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