United States predicted to be world’s leading oil producer. Warning: Claiming lower carbon emissions while exporting fossil fuels can lead to cognitive dissonance.

Sounds like a bit of a drag. And sadly, I wonder if we Americans suffer from a bit of CD as we come to grips with the “good news” about our nation’s surprising drop in greenhouse gas emissions.

On the surface, the drop looks like quite an achievement — in media parlance, it’s perhaps even the story of the century. Despite prognostications to the contrary, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are headed downward. How far down? In the first quarter of 2012, down to 1992 levels!

How did that happen? Certainly not as a result of