Richardson listened politely, but said the president probably would not support repealing the tax. We were caught napping. We got complacent. The U.S. relies on foreign imports for 56 percent of its crude oil needs. The Department of Energy estimates that by 2020, the U.S. will be dependent on foreign imports for 65 percent of our crude oil needs.
Oil makes up one-third of our nation's trade deficit.
Iraq is the fastest growing source of U.S. oil imports. In 1990, there were 405,000 U.S. jobs exploring and producing oil and gas. In 1999, there were only 293,000 jobs, a 27 percent decline. In 1990, there were 657 working U.S. oilrigs. In 2000, there were 153.