Voters concerned about national security matters must also be concerned about America’s energy security. Modern society can no longer function without abundant, affordable and uninterrupted sources of energy to fuel the technologies that make modern life possible. Like it or not, this is an unavoidable fact of life.
No development in this century has done more to enhance America’s level of energy security than the wedding of hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” as it has come to be called — with horizontal drilling. The combination of these two underappreciated drilling techniques enabled American drillers to extract oil and natural gas from gigantic shale formations which had been considered inaccessible for more than 150 years.
The U.S. oil and gas industry was considered a moribund, dying business when the 21st century dawned. Hamstrung by depressed commodity prices and a steadily diminishing set of conventional formations to access, America was dependent on imports from foreign nations for its oil needs, and appeared destined to require imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as its domestic gas fields became increasingly depleted. The country’s level of energy security had seldom been lower, its supply chains for oil seldom less controllable.
The shale revolution of the last quarter century has completely overturned that previous status quo. Today, America stands as the most powerful producer of both oil and natural gas the world has ever seen and is a net exporter of both key commodities. Moreover, as S&P Global Vice Chairman Daniel Yergin — best-selling author of “The Prize” and “The New Map” — wrote in the Wall Street Journal recently, American energy might is also crucial to many of its key allies.
“Japan and South Korea have come to rely on U.S. energy exports, which have proved essential for diversifying their supply and strengthening their security,” Yergin points out. “Losing that contribution would make them more vulnerable, reduce their confidence in the reliability of the U.S., and likely push them toward importing from Russia.”
Moreover, Yergin notes, American shale production — which accounts for well over half of its oil and natural gas — also serves to enhance our geopolitical leverage. “One of Vladimir Putin’s several miscalculations in invading Ukraine was that he could use energy to shatter the European coalition supporting Kyiv,” Yergin says. “His strategy failed because large supplies of LNG—bolstered by increased exports from Norway — compensated for the loss of Russian gas. Nearly half of the European Union’s LNG supply in 2023 consisted of U.S.-sourced LNG, mostly processed from shale gas, making the U.S. its largest supplier.”
Obviously, constraints on that LNG supply imposed by the U.S. federal government would severely compromise European energy security and weaken NATO’s ability to meet its objectives vis a vis Russia’s war with Ukraine.
American influence in global LNG markets has already been weakened by the Biden-Harris administration’s weak and irrational “pause” on permitting for LNG infrastructure that has already lasted 10 months and which Harris’ supporters in the climate-alarm industry hope to make permanent. Obviously, a ban on fracking imposed by a Harris presidency would rapidly relegate the United States back to its 20th century status as a minor player in global energy markets.
Unfortunately, though Harris’ campaign claimed in August that she had changed her mind about a fracking ban which she repeatedly endorsed during her time in the U.S. Senate, the candidate herself has remained steadfastly obtuse on the matter. This leaves voters no way to know which way she would eventually move once safely installed into the Oval Office come January.
“A ban on fracking would be both misguided and destructive for the U.S. and its allies,” Yergin writes. “Recurrent out-of-touch debates on the topic need to be tabled in light of a central fact: Shale has become crucial to the U.S. economy and global energy security.”
He is right, of course, and voters for whom national security is top of mind have an easy way to ensure the maintenance of American energy security on Election Day: Whatever else one thinks of Trump, there is nothing at all obtuse about his position on keeping fracking legal and thus maintaining America’s strong level of energy and natural security.
This isn’t hard.
David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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