How America’s Unconventional Quest for Energy Independence Stymied Presidents, Eluded Big Business, and Turned the Entire Energy Industry Upside-down

Abstract

The United States was once the world’s largest producer of energy, notably in the production of oil and natural gas. By the early 2000s, production figures of both resources had declined by nearly 50% from their peaks in the 1970s. Additionally, actors hostile to the United States and its interests were able to use natural resources as a strategic and economic weapon during this decline, most notably during the Arab oil embargo of 1973-1974. In response to these related developments, beginning in the mid-1970s successive US political administrations have called for the country to become “energy independent,” capable of meeting its own energy consumption demand through domestic production. For decades, “energy independence” failed to occur, and the problem worsened. However, by the early 2000s, domestic production of both oil and natural gas began to increase. By 2015, production began to surpass peak levels, and energy independence was finally in sight. While many analysts cite the discovery of new oil and gas fields and the increasing reach of multinational oil and gas firms as the primary catalysts behind this development, this paper seeks to determine precisely why the United States remained stymied in its efforts to achieve energy independence for 40 years, and why progress has occurred so quickly since 2000. Why now and why so fast? This thesis argues that the key factors behind these developments were the activities of smaller, risk-seeking private actors – individual entrepreneurs and their financial backers – and complementary public policies, not the discovery of new fields or the actions of oil and gas majors, that led to the imminent possibility of American energy independence.