Americans Gaining Energy Independence With U.S. as Top Producer - Businessweek

The U.S. is the closest it has been in almost 20 years to achieving energy self-sufficiency, a goal the nation has been pursuing since the 1973 Arab oil embargo triggered a recession and led to lines at the pump.

Domestic oil output is the highest in eight years. The U.S. is producing so much natural gas that, the government now may approve an export terminal. Methanex, the world’s biggest methanol maker, said it will dismantle a factory in Chile and reassemble it in Louisiana. And higher mileage standards and federally mandated ethanol use, along with slow economic growth, have curbed demand.