Did you know that America is still the third largest supplier of oil in the world? We pump around 8.3 million barrels of oil out of the ground on a daily basis, exporting around ten percent of it. The rest we consume… as well as another 12 million barrels. Every day. And the number could actually increase in coming years thanks to President Obama’s new plans.
For a guy who has clad himself in green armor, dolling out billions of dollars to fund alternative fuel research and improve the public infrastructure, approving new drilling seems counterintuitive. So is it a political olive branch to Republicans, a bent knee to oil companies, or just good forward thinking?