Quote of the Day:

In the meantime, as you look at reasonable energy bills and a booming economy in spite of turmoil in the Middle East, give thanks to the people who have made it possible. Have you hugged a fracker today?

–Glenn Harlan Reynolds in USA TODAY

 

U.S. foreign policy used to be held hostage to our need for oil from the Middle East.

OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) could dangle us on a string. Remember when the once mighty organization  cut production to raise prices and triggered the 1973 Oil Crisis?

But have you noticed what we’re not facing in the aftermath of the killing of an Iranian terrorist leader? We’re not facing an oil crisis. 

Glenn Harlan Reynolds explains in USA Today:

Why is that? Because frackers have turned the United States from a nation deeply dependent on imported oil to a net exporter and the world’s single largest producer of oil and gas.

For decades, U.S. foreign policy and defense strategy revolved around keeping the flow of oil from the Middle East going. Now it’s an afterthought. In fact, though the Navy used to have to be able to keep the Strait of Hormuz open so that oil could flow out against possible Iranian efforts to stop it, now the Navy only needs to be able to keep the strait closed, keeping Iran from selling the oil it produces for revenue it desperately needs.

Even an Iranian drone attack that shut down half of Saudi Arabia’s output didn’t have much impact.

And world markets know that Donald Trump, or any subsequent American president, can quickly boost supplies even further by opening up federal land to hydraulic fracturing, which extracts oil and gas from rock by injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals.

Of course, many environmentalists hate fracking, even though it replaces coal with cleaner fuels.

You might want to read Denver communications guru Debbie Brown on why fracking is more environmentally friendly that its critics admit.