Actually, it’s a big deal. There’s a big difference between oil independence (build-baby-build, nukes and renewables for me please) vs energy independence (frack-baby-frack, drill-baby-drill).

The two concepts are diametrically opposite.

Frankly, in the absence of nuke/alternative investment, I’d sooner see US oil production infrastructure wither. The oil in Saudi is easier, and thus less environmentally costly to extract. And better they pollute their environment than we ours.

Sooner or later, there will also be another severe crisis in the Middle East, which will hopefully cause world oil prices to hit $300/bbl. Then we’ll be forced to seriously consider alternatives, with a gun to our collective heads.

What we should be doing is taxing gasoline at $2/gal while it’s cheap and using the revenue to push alternatives while the opportunity exists. But this will never happen — Americans are too stupid and brainwashed to accept it, and we don’t have enough of a strong technocratic leadership class to get it done against the will of the lumpenidiotariat.