Thursday, August 2, 2012

Energy: It’s About Jobs

The latest jobs report, showing the creation of just 80,000 new jobs in June, is refocusing the political debate on the economy. How meager is 80,000 jobs? Well, according to UPI that’s “not even enough to keep up with growth in the working-age population,” which last month grew by 191,000. Meanwhile, a Rasmussen survey reports that only 31 percent of likely voters say the president is doing a good or excellent job handling economic issues.

Short analysis: It’s about jobs. Good news: It doesn’t have to be hard.

Energy-related job booms in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas and other states are showing what’s possible – in terms of jobs, tax-revenue generation and associated economic growth – when energy development leads the way. The Institute for Energy Research’s Robert Bradley Jr., in an article for Oilprice.com:

"In North Dakota, where drillers are producing crude oil from the Bakken Shale, workers are finding jobs offering wages that are significantly higher than the national average. Truck drivers are being paid $80,000 a year to start. Some workers on oil rigs are being paid six figures. And yet many jobs are going begging. According to the mayor of Williston, 'A lot of jobs get filled every day, but it’s like for every job you fill, another job and a half opens up.' In April, North Dakota had a jobless rate of 3.0 percent, the lowest in the country."

Additional detail:

In Pennsylvania, Bradley writes, state analysis projects jobs for drill operators will grow nearly 85 percent this year (compared to sub-3 percent growth otherwise in the state).Expansion is occurring in Texas’ Eagle Ford shale play, Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale, Arkansas’ Fayetteville Shale and other energy-rich rock formations, “increasing domestic energy supplies, making energy more affordable, and spawning subsidiary investments in the private sector creating additional jobs.”A steel plant in Ohio is adding 200 jobs to produce more drill pipe.A planned ethane plant in Texas is expected to create 400 jobs.

Bradley:

"These jobs are being created by companies, not the federal government. And they are based on 'made in the USA' technologies that have the potential to greatly increase nation’s energy security and alter the world’s balance of power. As U.S. oil and natural gas supplies increase, some experts believe American energy independence is on the horizon."

On his blog, John R. Hanger connects energy production and employment:

"Jobs are a major product of that commerce and energy production. The 5 biggest energy producing states all have unemployment rates below the national average, but the same cannot be said about the 5 states producing the least energy." 

Meanwhile, Canada, which a few years ago staked its economic revitalization on energy, is looking for U.S. workers to fill anticipated job slots in Alberta. The Edmonton Economic Development Corporation expects a shortage of 114,000 workers in the coming months and has set up the aptly named opportunityawaits.com website to promote job openings. One U.S. veterans group is reaching out to former military personnel and active-duty soldiers who soon will transition to civilian life, encouraging them to consider oil sands and Keystone XL pipeline jobs in Canada. Fox News has a story, here. Again, the point is to recognize the dynamic economic power of the energy stimulus.

No question, U.S. jobs figures for June suggest a still-struggling economy. The administration says it’s not to blame, that there are limits to what a president can do to change the national economic trajectory. Indeed, a president has limited options – so perhaps the first move is to not stand in the way of growth.

Energy is a proven job creator, a shining sector in the weak economy. But the administration is making energy expansion harder, not easier. It is delaying construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, and it is restricting offshore energy development. Its permitting policies in the Gulf of Mexico have suppressed production there, costing jobs and economic opportunity throughout the region. It is sending confusing messages on hydraulic fracturing, the shale technology that is unlocking America’s ample energy potential.

America’s oil and natural gas companies are creating good jobs and can create even more. With the right policies this industry can add 1 million new jobs before the end of the decade. Here’s a blueprint for an American-made energy policy.  It’s energy, it’s jobs and it’s within our reach.


View the original article here

Crude Production Rise: Credit Where Credit’s Due

Last week the Energy Information Administration (EIA) told us that U.S. crude oil production in the first quarter of the year topped 6 million barrels per day (bbl/d) for the first time in 14 years. EIA’s chart:

EIA’s analysis:

“Strong growth in U.S. crude oil production since the fourth quarter of 2011 is due mainly to higher output from North Dakota, Texas, and federal leases in the Gulf of Mexico. … After remaining steady between 5.5 million and 5.6 million bbl/d during each of the first three quarters of 2011, EIA estimates that U.S. average quarterly oil production grew to over 5.9 million bbl/d during the fourth quarter and then surpassed 6 million bbl/d during the first quarter of 2012.”

Certainly, great news like that will restart discussion of who deserves credit for such a production milestone – beyond, of course, the energy companies that are actually pulling the oil from the ground or the seafloor. Politico Pro [subscription required] reports White House spokesman Clark Stevens emailed in the administration’s claim for credit:

“Despite misleading rhetoric by some in Washington, President Obama has made expanding responsible oil and gas production here at home a clear priority and the facts speak for themselves. Since the president took office, domestic oil and gas production has increased each year, with oil production in the first quarter of 2012 higher than any time in 14 years and natural gas production at its highest level ever, and that is certainly thanks in part to steps taken by this administration.”

That’s one view. Others disagree. Politico quotes Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service:

“In the end, the president and Congress can’t take credit for what price and technology have delivered. It would be akin to taking credit for the iPad. … Unless there is a price collapse, or a true scientific indictment of fracking, one can expect to see plentiful growth in light sweet crude coming from the Rockies, North Dakota, and even Ohio or West Virginia.”

And Richard Newell, the EIA’s head from 2009-2011:

“In a political year, different parties would like to take credit for positive news in the energy sector and I think here the credit largely goes to technology."

And also Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy fellow at Rice University, who notes that North Dakota and Texas shale production has occurred mainly on private land, while increases from the Gulf result from the actions of previous administrations:

“Production rises from Gulf of Mexico would have been in the hopper way before President Obama took office.”

Settling the argument isn’t as important as recognizing that with the right policies the oil and natural gas industry can further develop America’s energy wealth. With the right strategies and leadership, the United States could see 100 percent of its liquid fuel needs met from North American sources. And along with it: jobs and tax revenues for government.

Strategies, policies and action: It’s what separates election-year rhetoric from substantive progress toward a more secure energy future.


View the original article here

Enter Innovation: Improving the Fracking Process

One of the factors involved in pulling energy from shale through hydraulic fracturing is how much water is needed – typically 2 to 4 million gallons per well. Though that’s not as much water as it sounds (electrical generation for the Susquehanna River Basin requires nearly 150 million gallons per day), it’s a public concern. More on water usage at the FracFocus website.

Water also is an industry concern. It isn’t free, and once the well has been stimulated with fracking, there’s waste water that has to be disposed of or recycled. Enter innovation. A number of companies are tackling the issue.

Schlumberger’s HiWAY flow-channel technology claims to use less water, with greater effectiveness:

“HiWAY technology fundamentally changes the way proppant fractures generate conductivity. The first technique of its kind, HiWAY fracturing creates open pathways inside the fracture, enabling hydrocarbons to flow through the stable channels rather than the proppant. This optimizes connectivity between the reservoir and the wellbore—resulting in infinite fracture conductivity.”

Other companies are marketing waterless alternatives, using other agents to apply pressure to the shale – producing microscopic fractures and introducing sand or other proppants to keep the cracks open so the oil or natural gas can drain from the shale and be collected.

Baker-Hughes has developed VaporFrac, combining a high-pressure nitrogen and/or carbon dioxide gas stream and an ultra-lightweight proppant slurry:

“This method safely creates a flow stream that is more than 90% gas, significantly reducing post-frac cleanup. The high energy of the gas phase makes for easy flowback. There’s a quicker tie into pipelines.”

GASFRAC Energy Services’ liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) gel is primarily propane, which the company says has a number of advantages in fracking:

“Since our gel regains permeability with the hydrocarbons we stimulate, we have the ability to recover 100% of the fracturing fluids within days of stimulation. This creates economic and environmental benefits reducing clean-up, waste disposal and post-job truck traffic, while creating higher initial production levels.”

No doubt, other companies, other energy innovators, are at work on this question. The point here is to show the kind of invention that’s being sparked by necessity surrounding water and fracking. Businesses are taking on this issue and others associated with energy development with the goal of making processes better, safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly. When we hear about their stories, we’ll pass them along.


View the original article here

Gulf Lease Sale Emphasizes Need for Expanded Opportunities

Some details from Wednesday’s federal lease sale in the central Gulf of Mexico (news coverage here and here):

Size – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) sale attracted high bonus bids of $1.7 billion for the area off the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama – ranging as far as 230 miles into the Gulf. Bids – Fifty-six companies submitted 593 bids on 454 tracts, with the sum of all bids totaling more than $2.6 billion. That’s a big sale, though not the biggest ever. According to BOEM the biggest value lease sale was $3.68 billion in the central Gulf in March 2008. The last sale in the central Gulf in March 2010 totaled $949 million. Record – The highest bid on a single tract was $157.1 million, submitted by Statoil in the Mississippi Canyon, Block 718 – about three times higher than the previous top bid of $52.5 million submitted in 2010.

Now, some perspective.  As API’s Erik Milito said Tuesday, the simple fact that the federal government held a lease sale in the central Gulf is important. It had been more than two years since drilling blocks had been put up for bid. That BOEM opened more than 38 million acres after a two-years-plus hiatus was a positive step.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar heralded the sale as evidence of the administration’s “all-of-the-above” energy strategy:

“When it comes to domestic production, the president has made clear he is committed to expanding oil and natural gas production safely and responsibly, and today's sale is just the latest example of his administration delivering on that commitment. … The Gulf is back. There is great robustness in oil and gas activity currently under way in the Gulf, as well as interest in additional exploration.”

Well, it’s probably more accurate to say the Gulf is getting back. Unfortunately, just returning to 2010 levels of activity (rig counts, etc.) concedes that two years of production were negatively affected by the administration’s policies – the 2010 deepwater drilling moratorium and the slow pace of permitting when the ban was lifted. Given that context, sure, industry was enthusiastic about Wednesday’s sale. National Ocean Industries Association President Randall Luthi:

“A sale of this size signals a strong industry commitment to the Gulf of Mexico and to our nation’s energy future and to more domestic jobs.”

More context: The areas opened for bidding this week have been considered before, which is what Milito emphasized on Tuesday. The central Gulf was not a new area for development. So, instead of restricting opportunity to these areas, the government should be expanding it to new ones. As Luthi suggests, industry is willing and able to do more. Just imagine the robustness of the bidding if the lease areas were in the Eastern Gulf or off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts – areas with undiscovered, technically recoverable reserves estimated at 1.40 billion, 10.37 billion and 3.82 billion barrels, respectively (see map).

Milito from Tuesday:

“Exploration is what leads to production. And it is important to understand that it is critical to maintain a robust leasing program to allow companies to explore new prospects and replace the production that is coming from existing wells. Maintaining the status quo won’t work.”

Opening up more U.S. resources for development (onshore as well) is the real path to expanding domestic oil and natural gas production – which is fundamental to a true, all-of-the-above energy approach. It’s critical to an American-made energy strategy that will create jobs, expand the economy and help us be more energy secure in the future.


View the original article here

Another Fracking Strawman, Up In Smoke

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, telling Reuters on Monday that state regulation of hydraulic fracturing isn’t enough:

"There are some who are saying that it's not something we ought to do, it should be left up to the states. That's not good enough for me because states are at very different level, some have zero, some have decent rules."

Bold, to be sure. So we wonder about the “some who are saying” in Salazar’s comment. Who’s he talking about? Perhaps EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, who said this in an interview last fall:

"The vast majority of oil and gas production is regulated at the state level. There are issues of whether or not the federal government can add to protection and also peace of mind for citizens by looking at large issues like air pollution impacts, which can be regional. ... So it's not to say that there isn't a federal role, but you can't start to talk about a federal role without acknowledging the very strong state role. We have no data right now that lead us to believe one way or the other that there needs to be specific federal regulation of the fracking process."

Worth repeating: The chief of the federal agency charged with protecting the environment says they’ve got nothing indicating that there needs to be “specific federal regulation of the fracking process.” More Jackson, a few days later on MSNBC:

“States are stepping up and doing a good job. I always say it doesn't have to be EPA that regulates the 10,000 wells that might go in."

Now, about the last part of Salazar’s comment, that some states have “zero” hydraulic fracturing regulation. We’ve checked around, and it looks like the secretary succumbed to a bit of Washington hyperbole there. A 2009 report by the Groundwater Protection Council, funded by the Energy Department for its National Energy Technology Laboratory, didn’t detect any oil and natural gas-producing states with ZERO rules.

Meanwhile, state officials sure sound deserving of Jackson’s confidence.

Oklahoma Corporation Commission Chairman Dana Murphy, before Congress last fall:

"My fundamental point would be to encourage that the states are the appropriate bodies to regulate the oil and gas drilling industry. Protection of water and the environment and the beneficial development of the nation's resources of oil and gas are not mutually exclusive goals. Oklahoma is proof of that."

And Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer:

“Simply put, because of our long history of oil and gas development and comprehensive regulatory structure, Pennsylvania does not need federal intervention to ensure an appropriate balance between resource development and environmental protection is struck.”

And Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper:

“I was personally involved with 50 or 60 (fracked) wells. There have been tens and thousands of wells in Colorado … and we can’t find anywhere in Colorado a single example of the process of fracking that has polluted groundwater. … There is a lot of anxiety out there certainly with hydraulic fracturing. But often times that anxiety is not directly connected to facts.”

If Secretary Salazar is dissatisfied with state-centered regulation of fracking – which is closest to and most responsive to individual industry operations – he should check with Administrator Jackson. And also with officials in the states, who clearly take the responsibility to oversee fracking within their borders seriously.


View the original article here

Innovation: Chevron’s ‘i-field’ Links Performance, Savings

USNews.com has a good read on Chevron’s digital investments, which the company says will save up to a billion dollars a year in operating costs in 2016. The linchpin is Chevron’s digital oil field, the “i-field,” which is short for “intelligent field.” USNews explains:

“Chevron's i-field harnesses advanced technology and communications to improve performance at 40 strategic assets throughout the world, including some of its biggest and most productive oil and gas fields. The company is rolling out six to eight mission-control centers focused on separate business areas, ranging from machinery to drilling to wells and reservoirs, that monitor those assets in real-time and rely on sophisticated computer algorithms for early detection of problems. From Chevron's perspective, the i-field is now essential to its global operations, which span six continents.”

Chevron isn’t the only company doing these things (USNews notes that Shell and ConocoPhillips have their own versions), but it is recognized as one of the oil and natural gas industry’s leaders. Basically, to overcome the global and labor-intensive characteristics of oil and gas development, Chevron has digitized a number of its operations. USNews:

“Chevron has deployed thousands of tiny sensors, only millimeters or centimeters in size, that monitor field operations and transmit data, both wired and wirelessly, back to central locations. The sensors instantaneously track pressure, temperature, and other readouts and aid with the mapping of underground fuel deposits, allowing the company to maximize production. Chevron also employs analytics to evaluate data streams in real-time from oil wells, drill rigs, ships, and elsewhere.”

The company has two mission-control facilities in Houston that oversee drilling and machinery support and two others in Lagos, Nigeria, and Covington, La., that monitor deepwater drilling. USNews:

“High above Houston in an office tower, a tech-savvy team at Chevron's machinery support hub monitors thousands of pieces of equipment, in real-time, across every continent except Antarctica. Using software to analyze data transmitted by sensors, it conducts ‘predictive intelligence’ to pinpoint when equipment, such as rotating devices called compressors, needs maintenance ‘so we can change out parts before they break down,’ [Chevron Energy Technology President Paul] Siegele says.”

USNews includes some examples where the technology came into play. The machinery support center sensed that a compressor in one of Chevron’s Asian business units was experiencing valve failure. On-site inspection confirmed the problem and the valve got fixed. Another time, equipment at Chevron’s Sanha oil and natural gas field off the coast of Angola was showing an irregularity, which the team in Houston detected. A repair was made, and the company saved millions of dollars in potential damage and lost production.

Again, Chevron figures it already is saving in the millions of dollars and says that will become billions when the “i-field” and a general operational overhaul are fully implemented in four years. Efficiencies and savings, of course, mean innovating companies, like Chevron, can invest more in energy exploration and development, which is a good thing.


View the original article here

A Question of Leadership

On energy and jobs, we need leadership. Presidential leadership. We hear about an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy, but we are not seeing those words followed by substantive actions to expand and strengthen U.S. domestic production. At the same time we need leadership to capitalize on the oil and natural gas industry’s demonstrated ability to create jobs, millions of them – and billions in revenue to the government. We’re sitting on a lottery ticket, and we need to make sure we don’t squander this opportunity for our country.

During a conference call with reporters on API’s new “American Energy Works” campaign, President and CEO Jack Gerard challenged the administration to back its words with policies that help increase domestic oil and natural gas exploration and development.

Gerard said the United States is on the verge of a “new energy paradigm” in which North American energy resources are developed – in the process creating jobs and making the U.S. energy self-sufficient, perhaps within a dozen years. Again, it comes down to leadership. Gerard:

“It’s a game-changing opportunity we’ve never seen in our lifetimes. … The president says he’s for all of the above, but when you look beneath the surface the president’s policies, practices and regulations have actually discouraged production of oil and natural gas.”

“American Energy Works” tells the stories of a number of the people in the oil and natural gas industry, which supports 9.2 million jobs. These are the faces and voices of people benefiting from well-paying jobs, more of which could be created with an energy approach that’s all of the above – and below. Gerard:

“The oil and natural gas industry has been a major job creator at a time when overall U.S. job creation has stagnated. It has created thousands of jobs while other industries have been losing jobs or, at best, holding steady.”

The great news is this industry is ready to do more. With the right leadership and policies, it could create 1.4 million jobs by 2030. It’s an industry that’s investing in America, doubling down on her future. Our companies claimed five of the top 11 spots on the Progressive Policy Institute’s recent list of the top 25 nonfinancial U.S.-based companies, ranked by their 2011 U.S. capital spending. There can be more investment, more jobs, more energy – with the right leadership.

It’s not going to come from those running unrealistic “beyond” campaigns to halt the development of fossil fuels, including oil and natural gas. Gerard:

“They say we can stop using oil right now. If this campaign is beyond anything it’s beyond sense. These groups need to be asked, what is their solution to power America’s economy? … Their campaign would put a halt to the creation of jobs that have been a lifeline to thousands of working Americans. It would hurt people who need work and those looking for new opportunities.”

It might set us back centuries. So, a pair of questions:

Given America’s ample reserves of oil and natural gas, onshore and offshore, will there be leadership to develop our energy wealth or policies that keep that wealth off limits, unavailable?For those who oppose oil and natural gas: What’s your plan? What’s your plan to run an economy that currently gets more than 60 percent of its energy from oil and natural gas and which is projected by government to get nearly 60 percent of its energy from oil and gas over the next couple of decades?    

Gerard:

“Our industry is going to continue investing in America. And it’s going to continue to support common-sense energy policies that encourage development of all of our nation’s energy resources. That’s the only way we’ll be able to meet our future energy needs, supply affordable energy to our economy and, most importantly at this critical time, put people back to work.”


View the original article here

Fix the Renewable Fuels Standard

There was good discussion of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) during a Hill hearing this week. API supports the appropriate use of ethanol, biodiesel and other biofuels in transportation fuels, but, unfortunately, in some ways the standard is bearing out the law of unintended consequences.

API President and CEO Jack Gerard addressed the House energy and power subcommittee, noting that U.S. refiners have primary responsibility for meeting the RFS requirements, blending nearly 15 billion gallons of ethanol in gasoline. But the RFS’ requirements are producing some bad policy, Gerard said:

“EPA has allowed the RFS law’s volume requirements to drive decisions that are inappropriate and unwise.  The law has become increasingly unrealistic, unworkable, and a threat to consumers.  It needs an overhaul, especially with respect to the volume requirements.” 

Gerard detailed ill effects stemming from the RFS’s volume mandates:

E10 “Blend Wall” – 10 percent ethanol content in fuel is safe for U.S. vehicle engines, service station pumps and storage tanks. But under the law, the ethanol volume in the overall fuel supply is required to increase and could exceed 10 percent as early as 2013. That’s the so-called “blend wall.” At that point refiners will have only two options: produce E15 (15 percent ethanol) and flexfuel or E85 – a blend of between 51 percent and 83 percent ethanol by volume that can be used only in flexfuel vehicles, which make up about 5 percent of the U.S. vehicle fleet today. More on E15 below. The problem with E85 is that it has a lower fuel economy than gasoline, and less than 2 percent of retail stations offer it.

E15 – EPA has approved the use of E15 for part of the vehicle fleet to help accommodate increases in the RFS volume requirement. But a recent study showed that E15 could damage engines that weren’t designed to use it, as well as gasoline station pump equipment. The risk can be measured in the billions of dollars. The Auto Alliance weighed in on E15, here. U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner shared the concerns of auto makers in a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson last summer. Gerard:

“EPA should not have proceeded with E15, especially before a thorough evaluation was conducted to assess the full range of short- and long-term impacts of increasing the amount of ethanol in gasoline on the environment, on engine and vehicle performance, and on consumer safety.”

Cellulosic ethanol – A 2007 law requires increasing use of this advanced form of ethanol that theoretically can be made from a broader range of feedstocks. But it isn’t available, because no one is making it commercially. The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Brian McGraw has more details, here. Even so, EPA continues to assert that aggressive mandates, not based on actual production, will somehow stimulate production. EPA could waive the provision but instead is insisting that refiners buy credits for a non-existent fuel, which will drive up costs and might harm consumers.

RINS – This stands for renewable identification numbers, which are used with renewable fuel credits that some refiners have purchased under a program created by EPA. Some refiners became fraud victims after buying invalid credits in good faith. EPA’s initial response was that the bad credits were the refiners’ problem, and that they’d have to buy more. This adds more costs to making gasoline. Industry currently is trying to work out the problem with EPA.

Again, industry supports renewable fuels. But the RFS as written threatens to become counterproductive. Gerard:

“The RFS law needs to be altered to fix what isn’t working and take into account the ability of the vehicle fleet and fueling infrastructure to safely use renewable blends. Mandates must have periodic technology/feasibility reviews to allow for appropriate adjustments. Biofuels are an important part of the nation’s energy mix.  But current law and how it is implemented have become increasingly problematic.  This could eventually hurt consumers and erode support for the RFS program.”  

The answer is commonsense problem-solving, including positive collaboration between government and industry. While the goals of the RFS are well-intentioned, the marketplace realities are concerning, with potentially negative effects on companies and consumers that should be fixed.


View the original article here

A Question of Leadership

On energy and jobs, we need leadership. Presidential leadership. We hear about an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy, but we are not seeing those words followed by substantive actions to expand and strengthen U.S. domestic production. At the same time we need leadership to capitalize on the oil and natural gas industry’s demonstrated ability to create jobs, millions of them – and billions in revenue to the government. We’re sitting on a lottery ticket, and we need to make sure we don’t squander this opportunity for our country.

During a conference call with reporters on API’s new “American Energy Works” campaign, President and CEO Jack Gerard challenged the administration to back its words with policies that help increase domestic oil and natural gas exploration and development.

Gerard said the United States is on the verge of a “new energy paradigm” in which North American energy resources are developed – in the process creating jobs and making the U.S. energy self-sufficient, perhaps within a dozen years. Again, it comes down to leadership. Gerard:

“It’s a game-changing opportunity we’ve never seen in our lifetimes. … The president says he’s for all of the above, but when you look beneath the surface the president’s policies, practices and regulations have actually discouraged production of oil and natural gas.”

“American Energy Works” tells the stories of a number of the people in the oil and natural gas industry, which supports 9.2 million jobs. These are the faces and voices of people benefiting from well-paying jobs, more of which could be created with an energy approach that’s all of the above – and below. Gerard:

“The oil and natural gas industry has been a major job creator at a time when overall U.S. job creation has stagnated. It has created thousands of jobs while other industries have been losing jobs or, at best, holding steady.”

The great news is this industry is ready to do more. With the right leadership and policies, it could create 1.4 million jobs by 2030. It’s an industry that’s investing in America, doubling down on her future. Our companies claimed five of the top 11 spots on the Progressive Policy Institute’s recent list of the top 25 nonfinancial U.S.-based companies, ranked by their 2011 U.S. capital spending. There can be more investment, more jobs, more energy – with the right leadership.

It’s not going to come from those running unrealistic “beyond” campaigns to halt the development of fossil fuels, including oil and natural gas. Gerard:

“They say we can stop using oil right now. If this campaign is beyond anything it’s beyond sense. These groups need to be asked, what is their solution to power America’s economy? … Their campaign would put a halt to the creation of jobs that have been a lifeline to thousands of working Americans. It would hurt people who need work and those looking for new opportunities.”

It might set us back centuries. So, a pair of questions:

Given America’s ample reserves of oil and natural gas, onshore and offshore, will there be leadership to develop our energy wealth or policies that keep that wealth off limits, unavailable?For those who oppose oil and natural gas: What’s your plan? What’s your plan to run an economy that currently gets more than 60 percent of its energy from oil and natural gas and which is projected by government to get nearly 60 percent of its energy from oil and gas over the next couple of decades?    

Gerard:

“Our industry is going to continue investing in America. And it’s going to continue to support common-sense energy policies that encourage development of all of our nation’s energy resources. That’s the only way we’ll be able to meet our future energy needs, supply affordable energy to our economy and, most importantly at this critical time, put people back to work.”


View the original article here