Unpacking America’s energy renaissance and Illinois’ role moving forward

The United States ended 2018 as the world’s top crude oil producer, a status it hasn’t enjoyed since 1973. America was also a weekly net petroleum exporter earlier this month for the first time since the Truman administration some 75 years ago. We also lead all major nations in carbon dioxide reductions this century.

If someone had told you back in 2008 that those three things were going to happen 10 years down the road, it probably would have sounded as believable as saying Donald Trump would be elected president.

But thanks to the marriage of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, all three have become a reality. In just a decade’s time, the United States’ fortunes have transitioned from that of energy scarcity to energy abundance — and it’s something worth celebrating.

Click here to read the full Southern Illinoisan op-ed.