International Energy Agency’s Shale Oil and Gas Analysis Misses the Point

Statement of Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter

Washington, D.C.—“Projections of U.S. oil and gas production released this week by the International Energy Agency (IEA) create a dangerously false sense of energy security. The truth is, with conventional oil supplies declining, reducing oil consumption is the only way to insulate the American economy against increased demand for oil.

“Fracking and drilling for natural gas and oil will not secure our energy future. Instead, these activities are industrializing urban and rural communities alike, compromising air quality, endangering drinking water and posing a public health threat to millions of Americans.  Moreover, most job gains created by shale development have been exaggerated.

“While the news of lower oil consumption is encouraging, shale oil and gas are fossil fuels, and are not appropriate replacements for oil. Instead, we should be looking to develop true renewable energy solutions and working to build an infrastructure to support them.

“Doubling down on evermore extreme methods of extracting oil such as fracking, tar sands mining and deepwater and ultra-deepwater drilling locks us in to evermore destructive global climate change. We need to remake the U.S. energy system now, and leave these fossil fuels underground.”

Contact: Kate Fried, Food & Water Watch, (202) 683-2500, kfried(at)fwwatch(dot)org.