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As gas prices have reached a national average of $3.42 per gallon, consumers debate whether the United States was ever energy independent. Former President Trump argued in early 2020 that America had finally attained the goal of energy independence, while pundits on the left argued that America has never met this criteria.

According to the Institute of Energy Research, the definition of energy independence is not so much that America did not import energy, but that America produced more energy than it used. According to that standard, in 2019, United States energy production was higher than U.S. energy consumption for the first time in sixty-two years.

U.S. energy production in 2019 was higher than U.S. energy consumption for the first time in 62 years. Thus, the U.S. attained the long-held goal of 鈥渆nergy independence鈥濃€攚hich is not to say that we did not import or export energy, but that we produced more energy than we used.

That is significantly down from 2020, but it is still energy independent according to the net export definition. We had lost our energy independence several times on a monthly basis since May 2020. But, the full calendar years of 2020 and 2021 both turned out to be net export years.