Of the 16 big U.S. and European oil companies studied by Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Sankey, 14 of them saw their production of petroleum decline in the last quarter.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2011/08/3... /
On March 19, 2001, in a speech to the National Energy Summit, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham told the audience, “America faces a major energy supply crisis over the next two decades, the failure to meet this challenge will threaten our nation’s economic prosperity, compromise our national security, and literally alter the way we lead our lives.”
Ostensibly, Cheney's Energy Task Force was formed to “develop a national energy policy designed to help the private sector, and, as necessary and appropriate, State and local governments, promote dependable, affordable, and environmentally sound production and distribution of energy for the future." Clearly alternative energy sources wasn't the main focus of the ETF's attention. It's also clear that our "national energy policy" included the production of other nation's resources whether they liked or not.
As both Bush and Cheney said, "The American way of life is not negotiable."
Since 911, every war we've undertaken has been about oil ... its control and its distribution. Americans need to decide if our "way of life" is worth the sacrifice. We're bankrupting our treasury, sacrificing the lives of our children, and destroying the planet for a way of life that, in the end, is not sustainable. We may no longer have control of our elected officials, but we can change things ... one life at a time.