Despite President Trump talking about “energy dominance” as justification for his desire to expand offshore oil drilling to the Atlantic, representatives from the oil industry often still frame the issue as one of energy security and independence.
So that you aren’t confused about whether we need to drill off the Atlantic Coast to insure that we won’t be blackmailed over oil supplies from the Middle East, according to The New York Times:
Surging U.S. and gas production has brought on “energy security and abundance,” Frank Macchiarola, a group director of the American Petroleum Institute trade association, told reporters this week, in a telephone call dedicated to urging scrapping or overhauling of one U.S. program for biofuels.
Fears of oil scarcity used to be a driver of U.S. energy policy, Macchiarola said.
Thanks partly to increased production, “that pillar has really been rendered essentially moot,” he said.
Hopefully this puts the nail in the coffin of the need for energy security and independence rhetoric.