Driven by new technologies and discoveries — and by rising global demand — America’s recoverable reserves of crude oil are soaring. And U.S. oil production would be soaring, too, were it not for the Obama administration’s systematic effort to reduce it.
To be sure, domestic production is increasing, but only because a historic boom in oil production on private and state-owned land is making up for a significant constriction of production on federal land and federally controlled offshore areas, which in recent decades is where about a third of U.S. oil has been produced. According to the Department of Energy, oil production under federal leases could decline by 100,000 barrels per day or more from its 2010 level by the end of this year. In 2010, the administration issued the smallest number of onshore federal leases in decades. Future declines are built into Obama’s recently announced five-year plan.
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