Christina CappielloTriplett

LA-Block 1
April 7th, 2015
Argumentative Essay

Foreign Oil Dependence

Oil plays a crucial role in our societys economic development. It is needed for
transportation, agricultural development, food production, chemicals, medicine, and the making
of petroleum-based products such as plastics and asphalt. The United States, in fact, consumes an
average of 20 million barrels of oil per day-an equivalent of about 840 million gallons. Luckily,
the United States of America has an abundance of fossil fuels and oil resources to sustain the
populations many needs. However, the USA is neglecting those numerous resources and using
imported oil from foreign countries. Does the United States dependence on foreign oil threaten
the freedom, safety, and moral values of the people?
Many people choose to believe a common misconception about fossil fuels: That the
world is running out of them. This, nevertheless, is a myth. As Gary Jason states in an article
titled Domestic Resources Will Reduce Foreign Dependence, The green dream or delusion is
that the world is running out of fossil fuels, and we need to switch to so-called renewable or
sustainable sources, such as solar power, wind power, and biofuels. Jason is correct with his
statement that the USA needs to switch to alternative sources of energy. But, that is not the issue
at-hand. The United States imports most of its oil from combative and unstable countries, like:
Iraq, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Nigeria. The importation of their oil could possibly
affect the safety of the United States. Becoming resourcefully independent could not only benefit
the safety of Americans, but it could benefit the economy as well by providing more employment
opportunities. Additionally, why not start exporting oil? Contrary to the common belief, America
has plenty of resources to supply themselves and even others. Furthermore, America also has
plenty of debt. There are uncountable positives to independence, is that not why the United
States of America was founded in the first place?
Approximately 55 percent of Americas consumed oil is imported. There must be an
acceptable justification to why America imports so much oil when it has a beyond adequate
amount of accessible resources. The United States is believably the worlds largest consumer of
oil and petroleum-based products. The Environmental Literary Council comments in an article
on Americas notably large consumption of oil, The USA is the world's largest consumer of oil,

accounting for nearly 25 percent of global consumption in 2006. As stated before, the United
States consumes 20 million barrels of oil out of the 85 million barrels consumed by the entire
world, including the US. That is almost a quarter of the worlds consumed oil per day. Could it be
that the USA cannot produce that much oil per day? Surely that must be the reason for the
importation of other countries oil. Not only that, but if the supply of traditional oil runs out,
people would have to rely on less-developed and dirtier resources, such as shale oil which is
derived from mining as opposed to crude oil which is easily drilled from the earth. Dependence:
How else will America sustain its extensive demand?
People are naturally dependent upon each other. That dependence, however, ceases to
favor those people when their safety and moral values are jeopardized. The United States of
America is reliant on about 55 percent of its daily consumed oil, when it already has plenty of
resources to sustain itself. Independence is not only a human right, but a gift. The USAs
unnecessary dependence on foreign oil contradicts the origins of the countrys foundation, along
with negatively affecting the safety of its population. Does the negative truly outweigh the
positive?