Less than a decade ago U.S. energy security was in crisis. Domestic oil production had been declining steadily from a peak of 10 million barrels per day in 1970 to only half that amount in 2005. Our reliance on oil imports and OPEC had risen to an all-time high ten years ago. U.S. natural gas production had been flat for more than 30 years and was slipping behind growing domestic demand. We were on track to become a major natural gas importer, a future that energy experts the world over agreed was nearly inevitable.

Despite countless promises about breaking — or at least significantly reducing — our reliance on overseas energy sources, our energy security was going from bad to worse. Fortunately, innovation, “petropreneurship” and free market capitalism had other plans.