National Security and Energy Independence

"We Can Drill Our Way to Energy Security"

President Obama often claims that we cannot drill our way to energy security because the United States only has 3 percent of the world's proven oil reserves. But a recent report by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) tells us otherwise: it reveals that America's recoverable combined supply of oil, coal, and natural gas is the largest on earth-far larger than that of Saudi Arabia, China, and Canada combined.

Link to CRS Report: U.S. Fossil Fuels Resouces

The CRS report provides the full, complete, and accurate picture of America's resources: it evaluates more than just our proven oil reserves, revealing that we have, in fact, 163 billion barrels of recoverable oil - nearly six times higher than what President Obama and the Democrats like to claim. That is enough to maintain our current levels of production and replace our imports from the Persian Gulf for more than 50 years. And that's just the beginning. Based on the 2009 assessment from the Potential Gas Committee, CRS states that America's future supply of natural gas is 2,047 TCF. At today's rate of use, this is enough natural gas to meet American demand for 90 years. The report also shows that America is number one in coal reserves, with more than 28 percent of the world's coal.

President Obama's agenda is about energy austerity. For decades many Democrats have supported drilling bans in the Outer Continental Shelf, on the East and West coasts, in offshore Alaska, and in large portions of the Gulf, and the Administration has made 83 percent of America's federal land inaccessible to drilling. As a senior official at the Obama Treasury Department said, "The administration believes that it is no longer sufficient to address our nation's energy needs by finding more fossil fuels..."

Their hope is that if we restrict enough supply, the price of fossil fuels will increase, and we can then simply shift to a green economy-but this is wishful thinking. Clean energy certainly plays a role in our diverse energy profile, but in most cases these alternatives are not yet deployable in a form that can meet all our existing energy needs efficiently, affordably, and reliably. We still have to power this machine called America and we can't do it without oil, coal and natural gas.

Thanks to this CRS report we now know that we can produce our way to energy security, bring down prices at the pump, strengthen our economy, and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. We just need to get the federal government out of the way.

Inhofe Op Ed: Actually, we can drill our way to energy security (Daily Caller)

Link to Press Release: Government Report: America's Combined Energy Resources Largest on Earth

Press Release: President Obama Creates Subsidy Distraction, Avoids Central Issue: Increasing American Energy Production

Inhofe Floor Speech: Democrats Have No Answer to Higher Gas Prices

The Hill: Senate Republicans challenge Obama on energy push

Inhofe Floor Speech: Ending the Obama Administration's Attack on Affordable Energy