To produce energy, companies burn coal, oil, gas, spin turbines, and build dams. Burning coal is a detrimental option to the environment that produces pollutants and contributes to greenhouse gases. To help with this growing issue, it is preferable to burn oil due the the minimized pollutants and carbon emissions it releases.
For the US, fossil fuels are typically imported from other countries primarily being Asian ones. However, there is a growing production from shale-rock formations, predictably increasing the barrels of oil the US produces a day by over twice as much as any other country has produced in a single year. It is discussed that this will increase the number of power-plants that can be switched over from burning coal to fossil
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Based on the price of gas, we can tell the fluctuations of the supply of oil. When prices are down, there is a plentiful, and when prices are up, there is a lacking. This is due to demand. As the article discusses, due to the increase of alternatives to produce energy such as solar panels and wind turbines, demand is steadily decreasing. Still, it has been a prevalent issue that needs to be resolved.
Thankfully, it seems the US is becoming more independent on finding and producing our own oil to the point where we can even start replacing some coal burning plants with oil burning ones. This would be incredibly beneficial to the environment in the sense that there would be less pollutants emitted into the atmosphere.
Oil has also been a past problem for the US in how much we have to import. Being dependent on other countries for our supply has given them the power to create an embargo as they please. Examples of this can be found when OPEC decided to no longer sell oil to us. Our country had always primarily depended on the Middle East for our supply. Not only were we at a lacking for plants that use the oil to burn for energy, but also for producing plastics, rubber, and fossil