Operation Epic Fury is highlighting the utter brilliance of Drill, baby, drill

It’s not 1973 anymore, and that’s a very good thing for the United States.Back then, the United States imported more than a third of its oil, much of it from the Middle East — and it paid the price. Now, it’s in a transformed position.“Drill, baby, drill” is arguably the most successful public policy of the last 20 years.It started life in 2008 as a catchphrase coined by Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, and has now been effected, with enormous economic and strategic benefits to the United States. On top of sweeping innovations forged by private industry, President Donald Trump has driven a stake through the heart of Joe Biden’s “net zero” energy policy — based the delusion that we could phase out fossil fuels — and has pursued US “energy dominance” instead. As anyone who has recently filled their car’s gas tank knows, we aren’t immune from the Iran war’s turmoil.But our newly robust energy position provides a cushion. It’s certainly better than the alternative.As Bruce Andre Beaubouef notes in an account of the oil crises of the 1970s, imported oil constituted less than 15% of our energy consumption in the mid-1950s.As the US population grew, and energy consumption grew even faster, we needed more. By 1973, imported oil accounted for 36% of domestic consumption.At the same time, domestic production in the continental United States declined in 1972 and 1973.We got slammed during the Arab oil embargo.The federal government adopted a raft of policies intended to achieve energy independence, none of which worked.The United States was importing more than 40% of its oil when the Iranian revolution roiled the global energy market again in 1979.  Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Please provide a valid email.By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

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