much as we can. the oil watch, on what is really behind the pain at the pump. what is it? certainly not consumption. that statement from president obama is ridiculous. if you look at u.s. oil consumption, it s been declining for a long time now. last year we consumed 18.6 million barrels of oil a day, which i the same amount we consumed in 1996. so u.s. oil consumption is going down. not about the u.s. consuming more oil. western european oil consumption is going down. i you want to know where the growth is coming. , it s emerging marks like champion and india. china consumes two barrels of oil per person per year compared to the u.s. at 22 and at it just going to keep going it s not how much we re using but access to how much we re getting? the president says he has been more open to opening up land than anyone prior. you say what? well, i don t think so. obviously the u.s. energy companies are having some success. u.s. oil production has been rising for three years.
richard petty was on hand to unlock the doors of the $195 million facility built by the city. the hall contains interactive exhibits and 150 video screens, racing similarities. on may 23rd, petty, dale earnhardt jr., johnson, nascar founder bill france and chairman bill france jr. became the first inductees but first, tomorrow, richard petty joins us live on fox & friends to talk about the honor. wow! wow. the second leg of the triple crown is this saturday in baltimore and some of the locals are upset with the preakness. here it is. get your freak on is the phrase. evidently people are offended by that? it s intended to bring younger fans to the track despite the ban on alcohol in the infield. some say the ad is in bad taste. john on the floor is in support of it. race promoters say maybe so, it s working. ticket sales for the preakness are up 5%. janice steen is a big gambler
this second smaller box is known as a top hat. it was built after a much larger four story box failed to cap the leaks on saturday. meantime, top oil executives facing a second day of grilling by lawmakers in washington for their role in the disaster. the process of understanding what led to the april 20th explosion and how to prevent such an accident in the future must also be collaborative. the casing was cemented 20 hours prior to the tragic incident and had it functioned as expected, this catastrophe may not have occurred. it s already started washing occupy the shores now. the total spill could eclipse the exxon valdez by next month. afghan president karzai continues his visit to the u.s. this morning. in a few hours, he will meet with president obama. relations between the two sides have become strained in recent months. at one point, the leader allegedly threatened to even join the taliban. yesterday, he met with secretary of state hillary clinton. american peo