By listening to the presidential debates and political pundits you could be forgiven in assuming that there is some correlation between domestic oil production and the price you pay at the pump. By now it has almost become a tenet of conventional wisdom that an uptick in domestic oil production--especially by expanding offshore drilling--will result in lowered gas prices.
But, is there any indication that this is actually true?
As NPR reporter David Kestenbaum discovered in talking to our energy-independent neighbors to the north, not really.
"Do all the conversions, adjust for taxes, and [Canadians are paying] something around $4 per gallon — about the same price as we pay in the U.S. right now.
Energy independence does not mean cheaper gasoline. It doesn't even mean that prices are more stable. Gas prices in Canada went up this summer just like they did in the United States."
Why is this? Common sense would seem to dictate that the more oil you produce at home the less vulnerable you are to foreign conflagrations, hostile petro-states and a fluctuating world market.
But that is not at all the case. As Oceana CEO Andy Sharpless distilled it in an op-ed for Politico...
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