Lost in the Iran Noise: American Energy Leadership Still Matters
Lost in the breathless media coverage of Iran and the Strait of Hormuz is a critical reality that too many politicians, activists and talking heads prefer to ignore: Record U.S. oil and natural gas production has helped keep a historic supply disruption from becoming a far worse price shock. American energy leadership still matters. And if we want it to keep mattering, we need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot.
Oil prices can move in seconds on a tweet or a missile launch. Tankers, refineries, pipelines, and the trucks that deliver fuel to your local station move in weeks. That is why lower crude prices do not instantly appear at the pump. A functioning physical market is not “price gouging.” That’s just reality.
Anyone who has spent five minutes around the actual logistics of the energy business understands this. The rest are either willfully ignorant or busy manufacturing outrage for the next election cycle.
Producing more energy is only part of the job — the process of getting that production to market is incredibly complex and capital intensive. Despite its current record production levels, the U.S. industry still faces myriad challenges amid government roadblocks and supply chain challenges.
New England still lacks adequate pipeline capacity to move natural gas when it is needed most, thanks largely to roadblocks set up by New York’s government.
Both West Texas and Appalachia continue to struggle with takeaway constraints even as the Permian and Marcellus basins keep setting production records.
California is steadily losing refining capacity thanks to a regulatory climate from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s government that treats energy infrastructure like a public enemy.
Without serious infrastructure investment and genuine permitting reform, all the abundance in the world cannot reach consumers efficiently.
You can have the greatest oil or natural gas field on Earth, but if you cannot move the product, the consumer still pays the price.
And yet some politicians in Washington and various state capitals are once again dusting off the same tired “solutions” that have failed every time they have been tried: windfall profits taxes and export bans. These are the policy equivalent of pouring sand in the gearbox. They would deliver exactly the opposite of what the politicians promise. Less investment. Less production. More volatility. Higher prices.
https://thelibertydaily.com/lost-iran-noise-american-energy-leadership-still-matters/
