Another month brings new evidence of the energy boom in the U.S. and in Texas. A new report citing Commerce Department figures says the U.S. ran a petroleum surplus in September for the first time in at least 40 years---dating back to monthly records kept since 1978. And this surplus goes beyond just crude oil. "We're talking about all petroleum products, which is crude oil plus gasoline and other refined products---everything that is made from crude oil," says Karr Ingham, petroleum economist with the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.
Ingham tells KTRH this type of surplus is a very big deal. "We've now largely achieved what we always professed to want to...and that is much greater levels of U.S. domestic production, and much less reliance on petroleum and crude oil imports," he says.
At the same time the U.S. is setting 40-year energy records, Democrats seeking the White House want to pull the plug. All of the top Democratic presidential candidates are calling for banning or limiting fracking and oil exploration. Front-runner Elizabeth Warren has pledged to sign an executive order banning fracking. Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris have made similar promises, while Joe Biden has called for a ban on new fracking.
Ingham warns of harsh consequences if any of these Democratic candidates gets elected. "To do as the wide swath of Democratic candidates suggest they want to do, would be to undo all of this and to take us backwards," he says. "The outcome would simply be to dramatically, drastically, catastrophically raise the cost of energy to American households and businesses...and frankly serve to kill the economy."