Obama has made some headway toward his environmental goals. He mandated better fuel-efficiency, requiring a corporate average of 54.5 miles per gallon for cars and light trucks by 2025, up from 30.2 miles in 2011. Even if the U.S. becomes a net exporter of oil, that may not affect gasoline pump prices because those costs are driven by global markets.
He also proposed limiting new power plants to 1,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per megawatt-hour. He may expand this rule to existing plants, including coal-fired facilities that emit 2,249 pounds per megawatt-hour on average—potentially providing sources of CO2 for oil recovery.
Roosevelt says he’s happy to pursue the type of drilling that creates a market-based demand for CO2 to clean up coal and gas plants. At his core, though, he’s a Texas oilman with a fossil-fuel bonanza in his sights.
“We’re not doing this to solve climate change,” Roosevelt says of his carbon dioxide-enhanced drilling plans. “We’re in business to liberate and sell oil.”