New CRS Report Puts the Lie to President’s Oil and Gas Claims

A new report from the non-partisan Congressional Research Service confirms what we’ve long been saying: Oil and gas production has declined on federal lands during the Obama administration. Oil production is down 6%, while gas production is down a whopping 28%. These decreases have occurred despite the revolution in drilling productivity wrought by the advent of hydraulic fracturing technology, or “fracking.” During the same period that federal output has been falling, oil production increased 61 % on state and private lands, while gas production grew 33 %. The CRS report, which I’ve re-posted below, puts the lie once and for all to the President’s false claim that he’s somehow responsible for the U.S. oil and gas boom. In fact, drilling is up in spite of the President, not because of him.