Cutting our dependence on foreign oil has been a key American goal for decades now, and new data suggests we've truly made a dent. The Energy Information Administration, a division of the Department of Energy, estimated that we imported a little less than 10 million barrels of oil a day in June of this year. That's down from more than 12 million barrels per day as recently as January 2011.
We've imported less than 10 million barrels a day in four of the past six months now, after having been above that 10 million figure every month since February of 1998. We're also exporting a lot more of the oil found here at home - that figure is up 50 percent over the past three years.
A big part of the reason for all this is that Americans have begun using less oil. From the early 1980s to the recession, the trend was toward more and more oil usage in this country, but it's finally started moving downward: After averaging more than 20 million barrels a day every year from 2003 to 2007, we're now down to around 18.5 million barrels a day.
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