Oil boomlet sweeps U.S. - Can it last?

[Laidback Al]

Oil boomlet sweeps U.S. as exports and production rise

excerpts

The U.S. exported more oil-based fuels than it imported in the first nine months of this year, making it likely that 2011 will be the first time since 1949 that the nation is a net exporter of such goods, primarily diesel.

That's not all. The U.S. has reversed another decades-long trend. It began producing more crude oil in 2008 than the year before and accelerated that upswing 3% in the first nine months of this year compared with the same period in 2010. That production has helped reduce U.S. imports of crude oil by about 10% since 2006.

But there is a downside . . . .

Not all are cheering. The changes are exacting a brutal toll on the nation's health and environment, says Susan Casey-Lefkowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), citing the greenhouse gas emissions of producing and refining fossil fuels.

The U.S., the world's second-largest greenhouse gas emitter after China, produced 4% more carbon dioxide last year than in 2009, when emissions dipped because of the recession, according to the Global Carbon Project, an international group of scientists.

read more at: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-12-16/us-oil-boom/52053236/1