Following T. Boone Pickens swing through Montana to pitch his energy plan with Gov. Brian Schweitzer, the U.S. News & World Report’s Matt Bandyk questions the Texas oilman’s motives and argument that the country needs to rid its dependence on foreign oil:
But putting the issue of undue influence aside, Pickens’ advice isn’t even that great. The obsession with dependence on foreign oil is one that most experts view as a distraction, at best. As long as countries continue to trade oil globally, it doesn’t matter if Americans buy foreign or domestic oil. That’s because people don’t care if the oil they use comes from beneath Kansas or beneath the Persian Gulf. That means that even if the US starts buying all its oil domestically, that will just drive down the price of oil for other producers, such as the Middle East, allowing non-US buyers to fill the gap.