I left the Orlando airport yesterday, and saw a station at $4.25. As for whether we were energy dependent a few years ago, it depends on your definition of independence. If we got rid of more than we took in? I suppose you could argue this is independence, but I believe it is simply semantics. And this is not just oil, but natural gas.
U.S. natural gas exports 2020 | Statista The USA was a net total energy exporter in 2019 and 2020, meaning that we produced more energy than we consumed. In 2019, we produced more oil and more natural gas than either Russia or Saudi Arabia.
Oil imports and exports - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) This oil and natural gas renaissance came about with the introduction of hydraulic fracturing, which the Obama administration tried several times to discredit, only to be unable to find any signs of water pollution from its use. Even under the Obama EPA, the science showed there was nothing to fear from properly conducted hydraulic fracturing. Thus, the Obama administration continued to lease federal lands for oil development. I'd argue we were more towards energy independence two years ago, certainly with gas at 1.79 in October, 2020.
The previous administration moved forward with these plans to lease land for oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)—the 1.6-million-acre coastal plain on Alaska’s North Slope—that was authorized in a 2017 budget bill and on federal lands in Kern County, California. Lawsuits failed and then the current administration in the first day of office put a stop to this with an executive order. This was unfortunate, as there is an estimated 7.7 billion barrels of oil available in this region, to be extracted over the 40 or so years. This would mean, yes, gas for less than 2 bucks a gallon. Of course, now there are new lawsuits pending, by the Alaska state agency that bought oil leases in the ANWR region, claiming the current administration enacted illegal measures to impede drilling in this area. Clearly, the current administration preaches green energy out of one side of its mouth, but one year after his executive order halting new oil and gas leases, Biden has outpaced Trump in issuing drilling permits on public lands. Of course, these are all tied up in lawsuits. After setting a record for the largest offshore lease sale last year in the Gulf of Mexico, the Interior Department plans to auction off oil and gas drilling rights on more than 200,000 acres across Western states by the end of March, followed by 1 million acres in the Cook Inlet, off the coast of Alaska. So maybe the current administration really wants the oil. Who knows what the current President is thinking? Certainly after observing him, one can't tell. The bottom line is in 2 years the current administration will be out of office and we will be back to square one with the drilling commencing, and a new slew of lawsuits to try and stop it. It is unfortunate the initial executive order was imposed, as a study out of the University of Wyoming estimated that about 300,000 jobs were lost because of the order. All, IMO, because of this green energy being pushed by the current administration out of one side of his mouth. What a conundrum.