Mitt Romney Embraces Exhausted Idea: 'Energy Independence' by 2020

Boldly going where virtually every presidential candidate since October 1973 has gone before, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney today will reportedly unveil a plan to achieve "energy independence" in the not-so-near future.

While Romney has added the "North American" modifier, and some of his ideas for how to get there may make sense, the goal itself is a populist and even dangerous non-sequitur, as explained previously at Reason by Ronald Bailey, Brian Doherty, John Stossel, Steve Chapman, and me.

Comments

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

Please let me know when we hear from a politician shilling for "independence from government". That person I'll vote for.

[Suthenboy]

Dont hold your breath waiting for a pol to call for an abolishment of the gravy train that is his job.

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

I will not

[Suthenboy]

I have long suspected that there is an unspoken 'plan' to use as much oil from the middle east as we can until it runs out. We will then still have our domestic supply and that troublesome part of the world will sink back into obscurity. They really have nothing else to offer and are intractably uncivilized.

Even if my suspicions are ridiculous, that is what will eventually happen. Sooner would be better.

[Brett L]

I've said this also. Except that if it was an actual plan by our government, it would be fucked up and overcomplicated to death.

[Suthenboy]

Yes, and the 'secret' would be known to everyone. There would be much gnashing of teeth from the left, hearings, trials, secret and anonymous whistleblowers etc etc.....a circus.

[mad libertarian guy]

It's not ridiculous.

It's painfully obvious.

We all know that, at one point or another, we will run out of oil. When those supplies begin to run scarce, China/India/Russia can and will bid for the rights to oil that is on the market.

They can't do that with oil from our domestic supply if it isn't on the market. That shit is ours and let's see someone come and try and take it.

[Mr Whipple]

What does "energy independence" mean to you?

Republicans --------- More fracking and off-shore drilling.

Democrats ---------- More wind turbines and solar panels.

I doubt either will allow the US to achieve "energy independence". The only thing that might come close, Gen IV thorium reactors, no one seems to be talking about.

[Brett L]

No more conflict oil!

[Bee Tagger]

If the Republicans succeed at making locavorism uncool, I can at least feel good about that.

[mad libertarian guy]

Locavorism has its place. But in large I can agree.

[Bardas Phocas]

We might achieve this 'independence' via technology and domestic reserves (no gov necessary). North American is shaping up to be the Arabian peninsula of the 21st century. The Rs of course love the brown energy and I expect that the Ds will soon get over thier infatuation with green energy when they find out it won't support their social-democratic dreams (and in fact sucks from it).

We'll all be swimmin' in LNG and frackin' our asses off in a decade.

[Spoonman.]

Mexico has contracted with Kinder Morgan to get some of the Eagle Ford gas shipped to it directly.

And LNG plants are in the works, but the permitting for them is a fucking nightmare. If the government had the sense to expedite that, we'd probably already be an energy-exporting country.

Of course there's also the geniuses that think we should ban the export of natural gas.

[wareagle]

I expect that the Ds will soon get over thier infatuation with green energy when they find out it won't support their social-democratic dreams (and in fact sucks from it).

why would you expect that? Liberals never accept that their ideas fail, regardless of the subject. They don't care that Spain went full-retard level green and it failed. They don't care that history is replete with the failures of central planning. A tenet of leftists is to never accept failure as failure.

[Spoonman.]

Without any government planning: US oil imports hit 20-year low

Higher oil prices and an increased use of a drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing has producers including Continental Resources Inc. (CLR), Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) and Hess Corp. (HES) boosting production from oil-rich geologic formations. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves pumping millions of gallons of water into the ground to free oil and natural gas and has been widely used in shale-rock formations such as the Bakken of North Dakota and Eagle Ford in Texas.

Free Market: It works, bitches.

[A Frayed Knot]

I'm thinking the amount of energy generated by Doherty's perpetual felation of Ron Paul could power the American electrical grid for years.

[Christina]

Here's an idea as to how wrong the statists are when it comes to power consumption. There is a whole cottage industry that has sprung up to consult utilities on Demand Side Management (DSM), in other words, getting people to use less energy. Now you or I would simply say, "why not let prices work?" But of course, it's not "fair" to charge more for energy, so utilities are barred from actually doing that.

The best part is, the left actually crows about the existence of these companies as generators of "Green Jobs" when really they're just evidence of a broken window.

[CE]

Face palm. Leave the big government earth destroying initiatives to the other candidate.

If oil really is a finite resource, wouldn't it be smarter to let the other countries use all of theirs up first?