Having domestic capacity set up and running primarily takes away from OPEC their ability to cut back on supply in order to create crises in our nation and thus control such things as budget decisions, political decisions, and even elections.
The left knows this, and they know that OPEC typically sides with them, thus they do not want America to regain that independence.
Simply put, there is no sound reason for not drilling and processing our own reserves.
The facts of the matter are that the US has proven oil deposits exceeding all other known sources in the world combined and the ability to recover it are being perfected as we speak. However, the real “energy” news that will rock the world has to do with MIT’s students’ discovery of converting solar energy at a cost similar to the price of coal using solar concentrators. If we use coal to power 50% of our economy then this is huge news. This new solar is a lot cleaner than most alternative energy sources out there. And, they are two or three years away from widescale implementation. This changes everything!