If We Have A Critical Need To Drill For More Oil, Why Are We Exporting So Much Of It ?

For years now, we have been hearing from right-wing Republicans that we have a critical shortage of oil -- forcing us to depend on foreign countries for our oil supply. They say we must drill for more oil in this country, even if it means destroying national lands and beaches ("drill, baby, drill"). For them, allowing the oil companies to drill where ever they want is the only answer, and they are quick to denigrate putting federal money into renewable energy sources (and the GOP has actually proposed cutting funds for this).

Is that true? Do we really need to drill so much, even if it hurts the environment? If so, then the following list makes no sense at all. It is a list of our top ten exports to foreign countries:

1. Machines, engines.....$205.2 billion (13.9% of exports)
2. Electronic equipment.....$158.9 billion (10.7% of exports)
3. Oil.....$129.5 billion (8.8% of exports)
4. Vehicles.....$119.7 billion (8.1% of exports)
5. Aircraft, spacecraft.....$87.5 billion (5.9% of exports)
6. Medical, technical equipment.....$79.1 billion (5.3% of exports)
7. Fems, precious metals, coins.....$71.8 billion (4.9% of exports)
8. Plastics.....$58.6 billion (4.0% of exports)
9. Organic chemicals.....$45.6 billion (3.1% of exports)
10. Pharmaceuticals.....$38.8 billion (2.6% of exports)

That's right. We are exporting about $129.5 billion worth of oil to other countries each year -- nearly 9% of all of this nation's exports, making it the third largest category of exports from the United States. And it gets even worse. Those exports of oil are increasing (up over 200% in 2011), and are the second fastest growing export from this country (behind only vegetable products, which was up over 360% in that year).

If we have such a critical shortage of oil in this country, then why are we exporting so much of it to other countries? The truth is that those right-wing Republicans aren't really worried about our oil supply, or the fact that we import so much. If they were, they would be trying to stop those exports. No, they are just shilling for the giant oil companies. They care more about the oil company profits than they do about our environment or the price of gas for consumers (which all that exporting has to affect).

And the same is true of the proposed XL pipeline. They tell us that it will help to stop our dependence on foreign oil (in spite of the fact that pipeline oil will come from another country). The fact is that most of that oil will be exported after refined, and will do nothing to solve our energy dependence problem (if indeed, it is a problem at all).