Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) helped markedly tame soaring energy costs that ensued Barack Obama’s entering the Oval Office, according to the Institute for Energy Research, saving consumers up to hundreds of billions of dollars. “Using historical price and production data for the years 2008 to 2013,” the analysts report, “a new study has found that hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling applied to shale oil formations saved consumers between $63 and $248 billion in 2013 (and a cumulative savings between $165 and $624 billion.) Without these technologies, international crude oil prices would have averaged $122 to $150 per barrel – $12 to $40 a barrel more or between $0.29 and $0.94 per gallon more on gasoline and other refined products.” As IER points out, Obama’s assertion – “we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices” – could not be further from the truth. One is left to wonder how much worse the economy would be today had the fracking revolution not revitalized the struggling energy sector. And one is also left to wonder just how much cheaper energy would be without the regulations imposed by the Obama administration. More…