Even though oil production is at a 12 year high (source) and even though politicians are fighting to keep subsidizing the Big 5 oil companies to the tune of $24 Billion a year (source) – gas prices will likely only further go up due to oil being a global commodity selling on the global marketplace. The idea of “Drill, Baby, Drill” sounds good on a bumper sticker but what people do not understand is that drilling does not protect America from potential foreign disruptions and only further leads to a dependency on foreign oil producers because we aren’t diversifying our energy needs.
According to the CBO – report HERE:
Policies that promoted greater production of oil in the United States would probably not protect U.S. consumers from sudden worldwide increases in oil prices stemming from supply disruptions elsewhere in the world, even if increased production lowered the world price of oil on an ongoing basis. In fact, such lower prices would encourage greater use of oil, thus making consumers more vulnerable to increases in oil prices. Even if the United States increased production and became a net exporter of oil, U.S. consumers would still be exposed to gasoline prices that rose and fell in response to disruptions around the world.
Via ThinkProgress
2 Comments
[...] baby, drill” is the solution to America’s energy problems – then read this HERE from the Congressional Budget Office. Spoiler alert – they say we can’t drill our way [...]
[...] in. But the CBO says that we can’t drill our way out of this problem alone; more on that HERE. If you think solar or wind should be part of the solution to America’s energy policy [...]