….Bloomberg News reported last week that \u201cthe U.S. is the closest it has been in almost 20 years to achieving energy self-sufficiency. … Domestic oil output is the highest in eight years. The U.S. is producing so much natural gas that, where the government warned four years ago of a critical need to boost imports, it now may approve an export terminal.\u201d\u009d As a result, \u201cthe U.S. has reversed a two-decade-long decline in energy independence, increasing the proportion of demand met from domestic sources over the last six years to an estimated 81 percent through the first 10 months of 2011.\u201d\u009d This transformation could make the U.S. the world\u2019s top energy producer by 2020, raise more tax revenue, free us from worrying about the Middle East, and, if we\u2019re smart, build a bridge to a much cleaner energy future.<\/p>\n
All of this is good news, but it will come true at scale only if these oil and gas resources can be extracted in an environmentally sustainable manner. This can be done right, but we need a deal between environmentalists and the oil and gas industry to lock it in \u201d\u201d now.<\/p>\n