March, 31 2010, 02:00pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
Myths of Energy Independence
STEVE CLEMONS
Clemons directs the American Strategy Program at the New America
Foundation and is the publisher of the political blog The Washington Note.
WASHINGTON
STEVE CLEMONS
Clemons directs the American Strategy Program at the New America
Foundation and is the publisher of the political blog The Washington Note.
Bryce's latest book is Gusher
of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of "Energy Independence." He is
the managing editor of Energy Tribune and a senior fellow at the
Manhattan Institute. He said today: "Today, during his speech announcing
the decision to allow increased offshore drilling, President Obama used
the most hackneyed phrase in modern American politics: he said the move
was needed to assure 'energy independence.' The idea that the U.S., the
world's biggest producer, and biggest consumer of energy, should be
independent of the world's single biggest industry, the $5
trillion-per-year global energy sector, is ludicrous on its face. The
fact that Obama used the phrase provides yet another indicator of the
intellectual poverty of our energy debate."
Background: While many politicians and pundits talk of a "dependence on
Mideast oil" (for example, Rep. Henry Waxman: "We're so dependent on
importing oil from the Middle East"), in fact, the countries the U.S.
gets the most oil from are Canada, Mexico and Nigeria. See
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
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