GOOD INDEPENDENCE DAY NEWS – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:  Not because of, but in spite of, the Obama administration, the United States is roaring ahead in energy production.  This is a glowing spot in our otherwise so-so economy.  From Bloomberg:

The U.S. will remain the world’s biggest oil producer this year after overtaking Saudi Arabia and Russia as extraction of energy from shale rock spurs the nation’s economic recovery, Bank of America Corp. said.

U.S. production of crude oil, along with liquids separated from natural gas, surpassed all other countries this year with daily output exceeding 11 million barrels in the first quarter, the bank said in a report today. The country became the world’s largest natural gas producer in 2010. The International Energy Agency said in June that the U.S. was the biggest producer of oil and natural gas liquids.

“The U.S. increase in supply is a very meaningful chunk of oil,” Francisco Blanch, the bank’s head of commodities research, said by phone from New York. “The shale boom is playing a key role in the U.S. recovery. If the U.S. didn’t have this energy supply, prices at the pump would be completely unaffordable.”

Oil extraction is soaring at shale formations in Texas and North Dakota as companies split rocks using high-pressure liquid, a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The surge in supply combined with restrictions on exporting crude is curbing the price of West Texas Intermediate, America’s oil benchmark. The U.S., the world’s largest oil consumer, still imported an average of 7.5 million barrels a day of crude in April, according to the Department of Energy’s statistical arm.

COMMENT:  This is driving the environmental religionists crazy.  They seek higher gasoline prices so Americans will drive less, even though they don't have anything to replace gasoline.  Hey, who cares about those middle-class suckers who have to drive to work?

We are moving toward energy independence, and can reach it as early as six years from now...assuming Washington doesn't interfere.  But Washington will interfere.  Republicans, combined with the few remaining moderate Democrats, can counter the interference, if the will is there.

July 5,  2014