Energy Independence: Why Bother?

In a global economy where we drive cars built in Japan, work on computers made in China and eat shrimp caught and peeled in Thailand, why do we hesitate to use oil pumped in Saudi Arabia? Do we fear oil shortages or embargoes? We’ve weathered those before. The oil exporting countries can only hold back so long- they have to sell the stuff. Camels won’t drink it, and you can’t make vodka from it.

Wonders yet to come: A sound basis for energy policy?

Wonders-yet-to-come seem to dominate U.S. energy policy. There is talk of changing laws to allow the exporting of oil and natural gas. There is talk of American energy independence. There is talk of an American energy renaissance and the ruination of OPEC. It is all very breathless and essentially baseless.

7 things everyone knows about energy that just ain’t so (2013 Edition)

Mark Twain once said, "It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so." And, there are many, many things that the public and policymakers know for sure about energy that just ain’t so.

The hype cycle: How the oil and gas industry manipulates investors and the public

What would you expect them to say? That’s the question you should ask whenever spokespersons for the oil and gas industry (or fake think tanks funded by the industry or analysts whose bread is buttered by the industry) announce a new find that is going to be a "game-changer.”

US set to become “New Middle East” for discord and (hopefully) oil

AP Wire–As it heads rapidly towards energy independence, the US has been dubbed "The New Middle East" by Energy Department officials, hoping desperately that it will be true. Slightly rising oil production, a lot of shuffling paper around to make "liquids" look like oil, and a new policy of fostering internal discord and violence will, hopefully, make overblown claims about our energy situation slightly more plausible.