If you haven't seen T. Boone Pickens' initial commercial about how we import nearly 70% of our oil and how he has a plan to get the US out of that level of dependency, click here to watch.
Known primarily for his career as an oil man, T. Boone Pickens has a current net worth of about $3Billion. He ranks as the 117th richest person in the US and 369th richest in the World. You can read more about him on many sites; just Google his name. The above tidbits were garnered from Wikipedia.
The reason I write this blog entry is NOT to push anything for Mr. Pickens. I do not have a position on him, whatsoever. I am writing this blog to clear up a few facts versus implications.
(facts over the fold)
You see, I believe there are implications behind these statements:
Did you know ... back in 1970 we imported 24% of our oil. And by 1990, it was 42%. Today, it's almost 70% and climbing every minute.
I strongly believe that when the average US citizen hears this ad, they immediately believe that "almost 70%" directly relates to the amount we import from the Middle East. And, I also believe that is no accident on Mr. Pickens' part - that people assume this very thing.
Well, let me first say that, yes, we do, in fact, import nearly 70% of our oil from outside the USA. But, here are a few numbers you may not know:
- Saudi Arabia provides the US with 9.61% of our total oil
- Canada provides the US with 12.328% of our total oil
That's almost 30% more oil than Saudi Arabia
- The entire Middle East provides the US with 17.844% of our total oil
- Add Venezuela to that, volative regions provides us with 25.45%
So, before you get all wound up that we import "almost 70% of our oil" from the Middle East, know the facts. It could change your mind on many things - like the urgent need to start drilling off-shore and/or in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (aka: ANWAR).
Here are the latest stats compiled from the US Dept of Energy:
Don't get me wrong. We must get off our our imbalanced dependency on oil. I realize we're not going to get away from using oil altogether and, even if we could, it won't happen anytime soon. And, we do need to start looking, finally, at alternate sources of energy and we need to develop those technologies here at home.
But, again, don't make this about the assumed "70% of our imported oil comes from the Middle East" ... it doesn't.