“After years of talking about it, we are finally poised to control our own energy future.” Obama in 2013 State of The Union address. The myth of American energy independence from fracking has been dealt a huge blow by the downgrade of recoverable oil from the Monterey shale formation. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has slashed its estimate of oil reserves from the Monterey shale formation by a massive 96%. In 2011 the EIA released a report that reviewed US shale oil and gas reserves. It stated that the largest shale oil formation in America was the Monterey play in Southern California. The report estimated that the Monterey shale formation held 15.5 billion barrels of oil or 64% of total U.S. shale oil reserves. California’s vast shale deposits were labelled ”black gold” due to this forecast. On the basis of this rosy review the University of California produced […]