Get your facts straight

Nothing irks me more than when some talking heads on TV is spouting off some opinions and then NOT using the right facts! A good example is California Congressman Adam Schiff who was on Fox and Friends (DirecTV channel 360) this morning. The topic up for debate was… of course… OIL. Anyway, the discussion was about the ban on offshore drilling for oil. Congressman Schiff was against offshore drilling and he noted, correctly I might add, that the US only has 1% to 3% of world oil reserve while we consume 25% of the world’s oil. Sneaky slight of hand there Congressman, but that’s not the question here, now is it? First the facts. Per the CIA World Fact Book:

	World Total	United States
Proven Oil Reserves	1,331,000 million bbl	21,760 million bbl (1.64%)
Oil Production	78.9 million bbl/day	8.322 million bbl/day (10.55%)
Oil Consumption	80.29 million bbl/day	20.8 million bbl/day (25.91%)

The real question is not related to oil reserves, but production instead. See, you cannot contrast reserves against consumption just to make a point when the question on the table is about production. What Congressman Schiff should have done was to use our production figures i.e. 10.55% instead. Instead, by contrasting reserves to consumption, it makes the cause look so much more hopeless and daunting. In his words “even IF we do this, we still only have 1 to 3 percent of the world’s oil.” True, but producing an addition 1 million bbl/day would reduce our reliance on foreign oil by no less than 8.01%. Now I agree that we consume way, way more oil than we produce. I agree we should reduce our dependence on foreign oil. I agree we can and should reduce our consumption, so please, no hate mail OK?  But reducing consumption AND increasing production together should be used to address the current energy crisis.

There are always three sides to every story. Your side, my side and the truth. In a society where most people take what they see on TV as truth and/or fact, all I ask is that if you’re going to be quoting numbers and figures, for Pete’s sake! Get your facts straight!!! 

Cheers
C