Reasons Why U.S. Maintains Dependence on Foreign Oil Import (2005)

Reasons Why U.S. Maintains Dependence on Foreign Oil Import (2005) In 2005, the United State imports about 60 percent of its oil from foreign countries, and this rate is still continuing to grow. Some experts predict that by the time 2020, the U.S. oil import rate will excess 70 percent or even more. Look back to the history, the U.S. imported only 42 percent oil of its consumption in 1980, and in 2000, this number has risen to 52 percent (Feldstein). That means the oil imported rate is not only just growing, but also might grow faster and faster when the oil demands is increasing. The rate is increased by almost 20 percent in 20 years even tough the government wants to reduce the U.S. dependence on foreign oil import even since 1970s. Today, most of the world's oil reserves are located in the Mid-east countries; most of these resources are controlled by the OPEC members. And the U.S imports big amount of oil form OPEC, such as Saudi Arabia.English: Kingdom Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Tak...In addition, not only U.S., but also other big countries in the world, such as Japan and Spain, these countries are also increasing their oil import from OPEC. In a public opinion survey, many people point out that they are afraid the future price of oil might become a "serious threat to the nation's economy and jobs, as well as to its standard of living, the environment, and their national security"(SUN DAY Campaign). Lots of people argue that the dependence of the foreign oil import is bad for American economy. The government in the United Stated always wants to be more independently on its domestic oil production. However, although President George Bush says that hydrogen power will lead the U.S. to energy independence, in fact, from the information upon, we knew that the oil import rate will not...