Posted on 01/16/2015 4:56:32 AM PST by thackney
Ahead of President Obama’s upcoming State of the Union (SOTU) address, American Petroleum Institute (API) President and CEO Jack Gerard discussed ways for the president to take a leadership position on the oil and gas industry in the United States.
The energy industry has gone from scarcity in the 20th century to abundance early in the 21st century, generating billions in tax revenue, creating millions of new jobs and providing a boost to manufacturing, Gerard said, thus necessitating a new way of thinking about energy. The change also offers the country an opportunity to achieve a level of energy security that would have seemed unimaginable in the past.
Amid the fracking boom that produced an energy renaissance, net petroleum imports “are at their lowest level since 1994,” Gerard noted, and gas prices are nearing six-year lows. However, because of supply disruptions in the Middle East and North Africa, crude oil could cost $150/bbl or more, were it not for the rise in domestic production races, according to figures from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Americans are pro-energy, and support economic policies that lead to economic growth and job creation.
“An election-night poll of mid-term election voters showed that 90 percent agreed that increased production of domestic oil and natural gas resources could lead to more U.S. jobs, and 86 percent recognized that [oil and gas production] stimulates our economy,” Gerard said. “Voters of all parties … are prepared to hold lawmakers accountable for getting energy policy right. Sixty-six percent of voters are likely to support a candidate who supports producing more oil and natural gas.”
Regarding the Jan. 20 SOTU address, Gerard said that it will likely “include a mix of rhetoric” claiming credit for energy achievement, while also outlining policy proposals that will undermine the industry.
“We need policies based on fact and science. The administration has let politics decide far too many energy policies,” he said.
Proposed new regulations on methane emissions are unnecessary, Gerard said, citing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) figures showing that methane emissions from hydraulically fractured natural gas wells are 73 percent lower than in 2011, despite the strong rise in production that has occurred since then. A 2014 University of Texas study, he noted, showed that methane emissions are 10 percent lower than they were a year earlier, according to a similar EPA study by the same research team, Gerard said.
“The White House knows this and still chose to move forward yesterday on new regulations that single out oil and natural gas production, which accounts for only 2 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.”
The drop in emissions show that existing regulations and technological innovations by the industry are working, and further reductions in emissions will occur as operators come up with new ways to extract and deliver natural gas to consumers. Any new regulations, he said, would only undermine the “dramatic carbon dioxide reductions” that are a result of “clean-burning natural gas,” and would dampen energy development that is “the foundation of the American Energy Revolution.”
The administration should abandon politics and instead follow science and make policy based on facts when the Keystone XL pipeline bill moves through the Senate. The president’s own U.S. State Department supports building Keystone XL, Gerard said, adding that the bill will be bipartisan, receiving support from Republicans and Democrats alike. And with the recent Nebraska Supreme Court ruling, “the last remaining excuse” for opposition to the bill was gone.
The current energy industry landscape presents a rare opportunity for political leaders, and they have a pro-energy mandate from the people, according to Gerard.
“This should be the year that energy policy catches up with America’s status as an energy superpower,” he said, adding that the country needs to “embrace the energy renaissance made possible by the U.S. oil and natural gas industry, one of the brightest opportunities that our Union has before us.”
API: President should embrace America’s energy moment in SOTU
http://www.api.org/news-and-media/news/newsitems/2015/jan-2015/api-president-should-embrace-americas-energy-moment-in-sotu
...API is the only national trade association representing all facets of the oil and natural gas industry, which supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy. API’s more than 625 members include large integrated companies, as well as exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms. They provide most of the nation’s energy and are backed by a growing grassroots movement of more than 25 million Americans.
Jack Gerard’s remarks at press briefing teleconference on Keystone XL
http://www.api.org/news-and-media/testimony-speeches/2015/jack-gerard-remarks-press-conference-api-to-launch-new-ad-campaign-ahead-of-sotu
...Yesterday’s announcement of new regulations on methane emissions from the oil and natural gas industry is case-in-point number one.
The facts on methane demonstrate that new regulations are not necessary. A recent EPA study found that methane emissions from hydraulic fracturing natural gas wells have fallen by 73 percent since 2011 even while energy production increased significantly. A 2014 University of Texas study found that methane emissions are 10 percent lower than what the same research team found in a study released in September 2013....
Save your breath Mr. Gerard..it won’t do any good.
Princess Barry will insist that he IS following science.
And scientists would NEVER, EVER dream of manipulating data to match a political agenda.
Right?
The enterprise involved in converting raw materials into good and useful products, and the services that go toward delivering those products to the ultimate user, are for the most part powered by the energy extracted from natural gas, petroleum, and coal, all very concentrated forms of stored energy. There are other limited degrees of energy extracted from other sources, but that contribution is at best marginal and sometimes quite uncertain.
This conversion of energy to products and services, creates the true source of wealth and prosperity. The equation is as simple as that.
Factoids overlooked by the current WH occupant.
Keep Obama out of the oil and gas business. He would only impose restrictive regulations.
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