Although America is not as rich in oil as it probably wants to be, it is very rich in other hydrocarbon fuels, natural gas and coal.
Coal is widely used in America as the main source of electricity. It is very plentiful here and we have known supplies of coal to power us for 300-500 years. The main problem with coal is really dirty. Although there has been a lot of rhetoric about clean coal, not that much progress has been made.
Natural Gas is widely available in America, especially in shale rock. There has been a lot of whining and complaining about how the environmentalists are constraining our domestic energy production in the realm of natural gas. However, this complaint is a bunch of s**t. The problem currently is demand, not supply. If there is a problem with supply, it is over supply-not under supply. Natural gas prices have utterly collapsed lately. Even in the past year, natural gas went from 4.40 to 2.50 (not good for my COP stock). The supply gut has been such a problem that two leading natural gas producers, ConocoPhillips and Chesapeake Energy, have cut production.
The problem is demand for natural gas. Natural gas burns more cleanly than coal, yet we don't use natural gas power plants. I'm not sure why, but I think its because this is much more expensive (see SimCity 2000). Global warming might have something to do with lower natural gas prices, since this super warm winter does not create as much need for heating fuel. Some market analysts think that increased heat in the summer will help natural gas prices. However, air conditioners generally run on the power grid which is tied to coal, rather than natural gas. Perhaps we should get natural gas cars or something.
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