New Report Shatters the Myth of Energy Scarcity and Highlights America's Vast Energy Resources

Here are some excerpts from a new energy study titled "North American Energy Inventory" from The Institute for Energy Research: 

Letter from the President (Thomas J. Pyle): "Access to affordable, abundant energy is, fundamentally, a means of freedom. But for those seeking to create a crisis that provides an opportunity to direct the way we live, work and act, affordable, reliable, abundant, domestic energy is a threat. In a very real sense, the more energy we have, the less power they will have. Energy abundance ends the justi!cation for central energy decision-making.

Against that backdrop, the Institute for Energy Research (IER) is proud to release the following report. It is the culmination of months of research and investigation by IER experts, drawing on a broad array of government, industry and university data—all of it public information—to provide the reader a more accurate description of what is available in North America now and what will likely be available in the future.

America’s energy future can be bright. Converting that potential into something real and transformative will not be easy—nor is success guaranteed. This report describes in detail what is possible and should serve once-and-for-all to shatter the myth of energy scarcity, and in so doing, empowers American citizens rather than politicians."

Conclusion: "North America is blessed with enough energy supplies to promote and sustain economic growth for many generations. The government’s own reports detail this, and Congress was advised of our energy wealth when the Congressional Research Service released a report showing that the United States’ combined recoverable oil, natural gas, and coal endowment is the largest on Earth.

Despite this overwhelming evidence of energy abundance, many continue to proclaim that an energy problem or “crisis” exists that justifies increased central planning, increased expenditures of public money, increased energy taxes and increased diktats on American citizens in order to solve “the problem.”

For forty years, politicians and special interests have argued successfully that energy production requires more regulations, more taxes, and more restrictions and the result has been less domestically produced energy, less economic growth, and fewer jobs.

Ironically, many of the policies that serve to hamstring energy production were abetted by the same premise: since America does not have enough oil, natural gas, and coal to continue to build its economy and improve the standards of living for all, the impact of proposed policies would negligibly affect energy production and security. The truth that is finally becoming clear is that North America is not only blessed with huge quantities of energy, but also could become the single largest producer in the world, with all of the attendant manufacturing, technological innovation and re-industrialization that would provide generations with good jobs and sustainable futures.

The question Americans therefore need to ask is whether government officials throughout North America will embrace this enormous opportunity or scorn it. Armed only with pessimistic assumptions about technology and an incomplete and misleading understanding of our energy wealth here at home, we should not be surprised that our energy situation has gotten worse the more they intervened.

The era of perceived energy shortages must end, and informed judgments about North America’s energy potential must finally be made.  Millions of new jobs, untold economic growth, and unprecedented wealth creation for North America and the world await a productive and conducive environment for energy production. 

Facing a future of plentiful and affordable energy supplies, Americans can once again reclaim the optimism that has characterized our history, replacing the pessimism of scarcity and government rationing that has placed limits on the growth of our economy and perhaps more importantly, our way of looking at the world."

HT: Powerline