Just the Facts . . . Almost

Does anyone remember the second presidential debate? Of course you do. If nothing else, you immediately thought of the phrase "binders full of women." A few of the other highlights include Governor Romney criticizing President Obama for not doing enough to increase domestic oil and gas production. In fact, he went further and suggested that the president has actually decreased it. I came across a few interesting news stories in the last week. Today, I read an article about the ten industries with double-digit job growth. Two of those industries are directly related to the very criticism Governor Romney made against the President. In the last two years drilling oil and gas wells has added 21,970 jobs, which is an increase of 29%, second only to internet publishing and broadcasting. The fourth fastest job growth industry is crude petroleum and natural gas extraction, which has added 32,715 jobs in the last two years, up 21%. Additionally, the AP reported the following:

"The AP reports new drilling methods have boosted U.S. oil production 7 percent this year. And next year, the Energy Department sees American output falling just shy of Saudi Arabia's 11.6 million barrels per day. Industry analysts predict that by 2020, North America could be 'the new Middle East.'"

Even I'll admit that the last statement is probably a stretch, but the data makes for a stark contrast to Governor Romney's claims against the President. Of course, every story chooses which facts to focus on, so I wanted to make sure I presented the full spectrum for you here, as one commentator noted: In Fahey's column, 

"He uses both oil and biofuel production and compares it to just Saudi oil production. That's not apples to apples. Then he omits that if we just reach the same level of oil production as the Saudis, close to 11 mbd, with just over 20.6bn barrels of known conventional recoverable oil, we're out of oil in just 5.15 years. Of course more technically recoverable oil, including shale, will be produced in the US so you might extend the end date, but not by decades.According to the CIA World Factbook, draw a line from Yemen to the Caspian Sea and there's over 760 billion barrels of conventional recoverable oil, compared to our 20.6bn. For the record we are just barely over 6 mbd in total oil production. Outstanding job, but a long way from where the Saudis are."

This is a fair assessment, but even if all of his data is accurate, no one can argue with the huge job growth in two different sectors of this extremely large industry. As for me, I couldn't care less (well, maybe I could). Regardless of how much oil there is the world over, it doesn't change that it is a limited resource that will run out one day. The only way to combat rising oil costs and to make the US energy independent is to invest in alternative energy across the board, which the Obama Administration is doing, but, of course, with a whole host of criticism because, as Governor Romney contested, half of those green energy companies the administration has invested in have gone bankrupt. Governor Romney needs to brush up on his math. The administration has invested in 63 of these green energy companies and only 5 have gone bankrupt. That's about as close to a perfect record in the business world as anyone can hope to achieve.