The importance of increasing access to domestic sources of oil and natural gas could not be clearer.
Experience has shown that we can not rely on any single source of energy — whether domestic or global. We should have as great a diversity of sources as possible, including sources from around the world.
We learned this during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. There were no significant offshore oil spills, which meant our infrastructure performed well, but supplies were disrupted when nearly all production in the Gulf of Mexico was temporarily shut down. Yet we were able to meet the nation’s demand because we were able to tap product supplies from Canada and Europe.
We need policies that support our need to participate actively in global energy markets — not policies that isolate us.
Right now, American companies manage just 2.5 percent of global oil and natural gas reserves.
In fact, the total amount of reserves managed by all investor-owned companies (such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, and others) is just 6 percent. Almost 80 percent is exclusively controlled by foreign governments.
Other countries know this. Look at Russia, which is doing everything it can to develop its resources often for economic and political gains. Or consider China, which is exploring resources around the world — including off our shores — to meet its exploding demand at home.
With global demand skyrocketing, not having a greater share of the world's oil and natural gas supplies is a threat both to our national security and our economic prosperity.
It's understandable that people want to believe in "energy independence." But consider this, in 1980, America imported 36 percent of our oil — today we import 60 percent. And by 2030, despite aggressive efforts to reduce consumption through incentives for alternatives and conservations, we will import 61 percent of our oil, according to the Department of Energy.
The Washington Post summed it up well earlier this year in a lead editorial. After declaring energy independence "the wrong target for policymakers," the Post wrote: "true energy security comes not so much from energy independence as from diverse sources of supply."
At a time when global competition for energy resources grows fiercer by the day, the United States must do everything it can to access resources around the world.