America’s Energy Edge

Discoveries of shale energy throughout the Americas and beyond will upend geopolitics. “The fracking revolution required more than just favorable geology; it also took financiers with a tolerance for risk, a property-rights regime that let landowners claim underground resources, a network of service providers and delivery infrastructure, and an industry structure characterized by thousands of entrepreneurs rather than a single national oil company,” write Robert D. Blackwill and Meghan L. O'Sullivan for Foreign Affairs. The US industry won’t be easily replicated. The supply will keep oil prices low and diminish influence of economies that depend on oil revenues including Russia and Iran. The two writers suggest the windfall will assure of ongoing US influence and “should help put to rest declinist thinking about the United States.” Also, “spread of shale technology across the globe will be good news for the climate.” That would require tax incentives and innovations that reduce the use of coal, unlikely with partisan bickering. Otherwise, lower prices may delay development of alternative energies and leadership on climate change. – YaleGlobal