Fox Uses Libya Attack To Promote Keystone XL

Fox's Neil Cavuto and his guest used Tuesday's attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya to push for more domestic drilling and construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. But experts say that neither will reduce our vulnerability to price spikes, and that the only way to achieve true energy security is to use less oil.

Cavuto hosted the Consumer Energy Alliance's David Holt yesterday, who claimed that “we can drastically reduce our imports” by expanding offshore drilling and natural gas extraction, and approving the Keystone XL pipeline:

But Cavuto did not disclose that Holt has a financial stake in extracting tar sands. In addition to working for the industry-funded CEA, Holt is also a managing partner at HBW Resources, a lobbying group with “close ties to Alberta's tar sands industry,” according to a Salon.com exposé.

National Review columnist Deroy Murdock echoed Holt's argument today, urging President Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline to give the U.S. access to “friendly oil.” But an analysis prepared for the Department of Energy found that U.S. oil imports are “insensitive” to “whether or not KXL is built” because much of the oil transported by the pipeline would be exported overseas:

Murdock rightly noted that volatility in the oil market harms the U.S. economy and national security. But his solution was to double down on our oil dependency by expanding domestic production, even though experts say that drilling more would not protect against price spikes because the price of oil is dictated by the global market.

As the Council on Foreign Relations' Michael Levi put it, “U.S. vulnerability to turmoil in the Middle East is linked to how much oil we consume, not where we buy it from.” Levi explained that “problem can be addressed only by making the U.S. economy more resilient to oil price swings, which includes -- most significantly -- lowering total U.S. oil consumption.”

With this goal in mind, the Obama administration recently finalized new fuel economy standards that will reduce oil demand and lead to "immediate and substantial" consumer savings at the gas pump. And contrary to the conservative media narrative that President Obama is stifling U.S. oil production, it is currently at an eight-year high.