December 12, 2012--No True Independence

My father used to remind me (frequently!) that there is no true independence without financial independence. He was that kind of old fashioned person. But of course, as I came to learn, he was right.

Now, if he were still here, he would likely say that there is no true national independence without energy independence. And he would be right about that too.

So he would have been happy to learn recently that a series of credible reports indicate the United States is well on its way to achieve that. By 2030 according to the International Energy Agency.

This very good news got lost in the blather of negativity that overwhelmed the recent presidential election, where you would have heard it charged that Barack Obama was so inept (or evil) that he was making America more dependent on imported oil than any of his predecessors, while, in fact, the opposite was more the truth.

The political back and forth focused on things such as the Keystone Pipeline (Obama was/is allegedly against it) and the claimed need for more drilling offshore and in tender environmental regions of the North Slope of Alaska.

None of these, it turns out, are necessary because the U.S, is well on its way to not needing even imported Canadian oil (the supposed, but inaccurate purpose of Keystone) much less oil from the Middle East, nor more offshore oil.

With fracking, which releases natural gas trapped in shale rock and, yes, home insulation and compelling better gas milage in automobiles (an Obama policy and mandate), doing this alone--fracking-baby-fracking while insulating-baby-insulating (it doesn't get more bipartisan than that)--who needs Saudi Arabia? Well, the Chinese do but that's another story.

According to Faith Birol, the agency's chief economist, their projection about American energy independence was 55 percent a reflection of more oil U.S. production and 45 percent a reflection of improving energy efficiency in the United States, primarily from the Obama' administration's new fuel economy standards for cars.

The other side of the agency's report is not so rosy--though we in America will likely became energy independent in less than 20 years, fossil fuel usage will continue to increase worldwide and this means more climate change.  Let's see if Obama can work on that too.