Forty years ago, the U.S. was the world's biggest oil producer. But in 1970 U.S. crude oil output peaked. More importantly, the 9.6 million barrels produced a day was enough to cover the bulk of the country's needs. Currently, U.S. crude production covers only 42% of the country's needs. After that, we are dependent on foreign oil and the repressive regimes that guarantee the availability of oil to us. Despite Nixon's clarion call for "Project Independence" in 1973 we have done little to make that vision real.
On the world front, Matthew Simmons, a voluble Houston-based consultant, states that the world hit its sustainable peak oil level in May 2005.
The immediate obstacle to oil though is political as whatever resources we have left remain isolated in Alaska's wilderness preserves and on the Outer Continental Shelf off the Atlantic, Pacific and eastern Gulf of Mexico coasts.
These should be opened up immediately.
Thereafter, in Iraq, where the world's biggest untapped prospects lie, major oil firms should invest in the country which would help both the U.S. and Iraq.
None of these obvious statements are an answer since they are simply an immediate fix while we wean ourselves away from dependence on foreign oil.
The next President should be thinking long and hard on seriously implementing the vision that Nixon sought in '73.
Blog Smith is inspired by the myth of Hephaestus in the creation of blacksmith-like, forged materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.