America Energy Independant a Reality?! What?

According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the U.S. is on the fast track to becoming the "world's biggest oil producer," and pretty soon, too. The country is expected to surpass Saudi Arabia by 2020 with a 11.1 million barrels per day compared to the latter's 10.6. My question is: Where did this come from all of a sudden? Our country has spent the last decade going on about how we need to be looking for new sources of energy, and with this report now in play, what will it do to that idea? What will become of our Toyota Priuses and Chevy Volts?

The method that is providing the country with this potential is fracking, which involves pumping down mixtures of sand, water, and chemicals at high pressure. Sounds neat. The number one question this will obviously elicit is: Will we go back to a Golden Age when gas cost less than a dollar at the pumps? Chances are that this is unlikely, and this "energy independence" won't look nearly as promising as I and everyone else would love to believe. All other stories about this report on the internet pretty much leave it looking as if this is excellent news for the nation, but Forbes doesn't think so; they've compiled a 10 Reasons list for why we shouldn't be breaking out the champagne and party hats. So before you all go out and start planting the seeds of this juicy development in the ears of all your friends and neighbors, I would suggest checking out the Forbes article because it's always good to know the negative effects of something that sounds too good to be true—this is one of those things.