By George Fallar 
Ask any American on the street why gas prices are so high. The answer from many, perhaps most, will include a reference to the liberal energy policies of the Biden administration.
That weak energy policy answer is repeated frequently on social media, television, and most loudly by politicians looking to benefit from the gas pump anger.
The problem with that?
United States oil production is at an all time high and still climbing.
What Country is the Oil Production Leader?
Saudi Arabia? Nope, second. Iraq? Nope, sixth. United Arab Emirates? Nope, seventh. Iran? No. Kuwait? No.
U.S. oil production is the world’s highest, currently clocking over 13.2 million barrels per day.
That’s a bit above the formerly leading production experienced immediately before COVID tanked demand. Despite the Biden energy policy.
The United States has been the top oil producing nation in the world since 2018. There are data made available by the U.S. Energy Administration Administration for a significant historical period. It’s all publicly available and supports the facts above.
Information is available but not easy to find and consume
The typical impression of most Americans on the street, liberal and conservative alike, is the OPEC nations supply most of our oil. Add to that impression that oil companies producing oil within the United States are being hamstrung by restrictive energy policies and reduced access to oil producing land.
The bulk of the narrative available to us is purposefully slanted unless we root around to find the truth. Even then, truth is nuanced in something as complex as government energy policy. Add all the geopolitical and economic pressures on energy corporations to the list of legitimate excuses for incorrect impressions.
Suspect Quality of Information
It’s unrealistic to expect people to find then drill down in tables and numbers. Data is ugly to look at. Once found, that information probably needs additional context to make sense.
Media outlets with significant research capabilities to produce accurate and timely information for presentation on their platforms are a different matter. As consumers of those broadcasts, print stories, and social media posts we should demand better performance. We can easily make those demands by simply refusing to patronize those sources.
The larger problem is we don’t make those demands. Instead, we absorb that information and it influences our opinions. Most of us aren’t willing to take the time to question stories that lean in our favored direction.
Information is presented publicly by media outlets and then filtered, fudged, and repeated by people other than the
Reliable Source of Information
One of the best sources of information on topics like energy production is our government. Orchestrated efforts to discredit government information aside, there’s little legitimate proof of the existence of actual bad information that stands uncorrected.
Cue grumbles of UFO, Snowden, Fauci, masks, ballots.
A more realistic argument is government resources restrict access to information or explanations of “raw” data we feel should be made public. Confidence in that statement has been earned by submitting more than a few Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests proves that point.
Raw data is expensive to compile and check. Our tax dollars pick up the tab for that. We need it to be able to make intelligent decisions for any number of things like investing.
Republicans Have Their Own Data
Here’s some of Republican talking points that will be pulled out to support the position noted in the title of this post.
- The Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico has been the source of much of the increased production. Republicans will note state and private land has been the location of those wells, not federal land.
- Producers from US shale basins have improved production efficiencies and drilled longer lateral wells, something Biden wouldn’t affect.
- Federal regulations are strangling the oil industry.
- The US is still vulnerable to OPEC pricing (in good part because oil companies prefer to import some grades of crude oil).
Informed Voters Are The Best Voters
Of course the reason for this post isn’t to offer a complete discussion of oil production. That topic is complex with countless variables. The overarching opinion is what matters, and the “facts” many of us are willing to repeat are provably incorrect. So, they aren’t facts at all.
Something as big as a simple declaration the energy policy of the current President has blown gas prices through the roof is wrong. We shouldn’t say it and we should push back when we hear it.
Ironically, people very much concerned with reducing the fossil fuel consumption of our country to zero are as angry with the current President as hard core MAGA people are. A notable difference in the construction of their opinion is they are well aware of the record production of oil.
The controversial Willow project in Alaska was approved, offering multiple environmental objections. That project was part of a campaign promise to shut down Arctic drilling. While Conoco-Phillips was approved for three instead of five “pads”, the impact on an extremely fragile environment remains a concern despite relinquishing ConocoPhillips’ land rights to 68,000 acres. Of note is the coastal erosion and, worse, thawing permafrost in the region.
Those people are also aware Biden approved more permits than did Trump in their first two years. Despite the Biden energy policy.
Federal data show the Biden administration approved 6,430 permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands in its first two years, outpacing the Trump administration’s 6,172 drilling-permit approvals in its first two years.
Biden Administration Oil, Gas Drilling Approvals Outpace Trump’s – Center for Biological Diversity
People who voted for Joe Biden solely because of his promises to restrict oil drilling and bring the country closer to “net zero” have a legitimate beef. Consideration of related unpredictable factors like lingering COVID and a war or two are unlikely to temper that anger.
Vote armed with facts instead of memes.
Research and Supporting Information
- Top 10 largest oil producing countries in the world today – development aid
- US September Oil Production New Record High – peakoilbarrel.com
- Oil and petroleum products explained – US Energy Information Administration (EIA)
- What countries are the top producers and consumers of oil? – EIA