Remember all that peak oil stuff?
Oct 25, 2012, 8:57 AM | Updated: 9:06 am
(AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
While we were all busy tweeting clever cracks about the debates, one of the nation’s biggest problems has been quietly mending itself.
“U.S. oil output is surging so fast that the U.S. could soon overtake Saudi Arabia,” said one news report.
All of a sudden, we have plenty of oil! The same analysts who usually deliver depressing news have become excruciatingly cheerful.
“The U.S. is now the fastest growing producer of oil in the world,” said another report.
I thought that oil-hating bureaucrats had been sneaking around pounding corks in the wellheads, but apparently they missed a few.
“It’s a huge game changer. We may never have to worry about an Arab oil embargo again.”
It wasn’t that Alaska was suddenly opened up, it has nothing to do with a pipeline — it’s mainly because of, high oil prices. Because oil prices are high and are expected to remain high, it’s worth it to use expensive drilling methods like fracking.
We should note that not everyone likes fracking, like the people in whose backyard it’s happening, and environmentalists.
And they will probably file lawsuits, but those can be settled by regulations and money, instead of soldiers and drones.
In the meantime, analysts at Citibank are saying that by 2020 we’ll be producing so much oil that we’ll be the new Middle East. Finally! Some other benign superpower can build our schools and roads and bridges. And we will welcome them with roses and bon-bons.