Although many people take polyethylene for granted, almost everyone regularly uses myriad products made partly or entirely from it, including modern airplanes, trash bags, food storage containers, lightweight vehicles, stretch films, hard hats, detergent bottles, piping for natural gas and water, insulation for electrical wires, medical supplies, the list goes on and on.

Oil producers in the "Bakken shale formation in western North Dakota and eastern Montana have produced 1 billion barrels of crude [oil]" as of the first quarter of 2014, reports the Associated Press. "North Dakota has generated 852 million barrels of Bakken crude, and Montana has produced about 151 million barrels."

Whereas in the United States owners of resources have a strong incentive to contract with frackers—development of Eagle Ford shale in Texas generated some $2.4 billion in leases in 2010 alone—European politicians and bureaucrats, who control the resources in question there, have little to no incentive (and likely negative incentive) to enable fracking.

Due to government restrictions, UK producers have drilled only an averaged of 19 onshore wells per year over the last century. In stark contrast, because the U.S. government substantially protects the rights of private owners to subsurface oil and gas, energy producers here drill and frack thousands of wells annually.

The measure proposes that local governments need only claim that fracking might somehow harm someone—under the so-called “precautionary principle,” they need not offer any evidence, much less prove anything—to trample the rights of energy producers and of the property owners with whom those producers contract.

Despite federal controls, American energy producers have dramatically expanded the production of domestic oil and natural gas, keeping consumer prices relatively low and providing work for millions of Americans. Cruz is right that restraining the federal government’s power to throttle energy producers will substantially free them to continue and expand their work.

The Obama administration is “putting off its decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, likely until after the November elections,” the Associated Press reports, illustrating how leftist political maneuvering continues to delay this vital project. The developers have a moral right to use their minds, to develop technologies, and to offer their products in the marketplace.

[caption id="attachment_8246" align="alignright" width="225"] Image: Joshua Doubek[/caption] The financial crisis of 2008 devastated the productivity of energy-intensive industries in both the European Union and the United States. Today, while businesses in the EU still struggle to recover amidst increasingly onerous regulatory regimes, many in the United States have emerged strong…

Low energy costs and abundant petrochemical materials made possible by those working in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) have made the United States one of the least expensive places for chemical manufacturing on the planet. Stephen Pryor, president of ExxonMobil Chemical, explains: [M]anufacturers can make ethylene [a primary petrochemical…

Over the past few years, producers in the chemical and manufacturing industries have rapidly expanded their output, thanks in large part to the raw materials and energy sold to them by producers using the methods of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Frackers not only help provide inexpensive energy to…

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that Texas energy business produced 2.7 million barrels of oil in September—the highest volume since the EIA began tracking the data. Economist Mark Perry notes that “oil output has doubled in only 29 months” there; this is due mainly to advances in horizontal drilling…

American energy producers have rapidly expanded their output of oil and natural gas in recent years—thanks to the advancing technologies of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking). For an indication of the difference these technologies make, consider some figures regarding the Eagle Ford Shale formation in Texas. The energy company…

An editorial in the Denver Post rightly criticizes attempts to ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in various Colorado cities, but doesn’t name the fundamental under assault. Anti-fracking activists in Lafayette seek to permanently ban oil and gas extraction, while activists in Broomfield, Boulder, and Fort Collins seek to enact five-year moratoriums…

Earlier this month, protesters in New Brunswick, Canada—who for weeks “blockaded a staging area where an energy firm stores its equipment”—hurled molotov cocktails at police, destroyed six police vehicles, and fired at least one gunshot. This “[v]iolence erupted as officers moved in to enforce a court injunction won by the…

Twenty-three years after Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union, Russia maintains considerable influence over the nation by controlling much of its energy. OJSC Gazprom, of which the Russian government is majority shareholder, provides Lithuania’s natural gas—which amounts to half of the country’s energy consumption. In an effort to…