API President & CEO Jack Gerald Delivers “State of American Energy” – Slams Obama Administration’s Job-Killing Enegy Policy

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft



API President & CEO Jack Gerald Delivers “State of American Energy” – Slams Obama Administration’s Job-Killing Enegy Policy: "

Jack Gerald, President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, delivered the organization’s “State of American Energy” today in Washington DC.



I am listening to President Gerald deliver his remarks live at the Newseum in downtown Washington DC.

You can watch this event live at the API website.

The greatest moments in our history occur when we overcome challenges, or when we recognize and take advantage of opportunities.

In my remarks today, I want to focus on the challenges and opportunities before our country related to energy—and how what we do this year could have a profound impact on our country’s energy future … and with it, our economic prosperity.

And while this particular story has yet to be written for the Newseum, at this moment in time, our options for the future are quickly coming into focus.

Today we’re issuing The State of American Energy. A report that provides our industry’s perspective on energy and economic issues and the way the two are inextricably linked.

This report captures the challenges and opportunities ahead of us.

On the one hand, even in this challenging economic climate—one where people are looking for ways to create jobs, boost revenue and spur investment—our industry has a great story to tell. Consider just a few highlights from the last year.

** In 2010, oil and natural gas companies created 57,000 new jobs in Pennsylvania and West Virginia alone as part of the Marcellus Shale natural gas development. These are good-paying, stable jobs that are in high demand right now.

** The number-one ranking in Gallup’s “Job Creation Index” belongs to North Dakota, thanks to its record-breaking oil production numbers.

** Last year, oil and natural gas companies’ investments in U.S. capital projects for this decade hit the two trillion dollar mark.

** Finally, this industry provides the U.S. Treasury, on average, with well over $95 million each day in taxes, rent, royalties and bonus payments.

But on the other hand, without policies that encourage the continued safe and reliable production of our domestic oil and natural gas resources, the story will get much gloomier…

…We oppose the recent decision by the Department of the Interior to delay the next Five-Year Plan for offshore leasing, the placing of large areas of domestic oil and natural gas off-limits, and the slow pace of permitting—both onshore and off—in areas where exploration and production are allowed.

Closing the eastern Gulf and the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to offshore drilling and exploration—and delaying development in Alaska—sends job creation elsewhere … and it closes the door on economic growth.

Countries around the world understand this. Some are creating the right climate for energy investment – both within their borders and off their coasts—while others are securing global oil and natural gas resources

We hear much about China and how they’re securing their own energy future.

We can look at Brazil, home to some of the largest offshore oil finds in the last decade, finds that are believed to hold as much as 100 billion barrels of oil. Brazil recently announced that between now and 2014 it will invest $224 billion to double production by 2020. About 95 percent of that investment will stay in Brazil.

U.S. oil and natural gas companies stand to benefit from this development and could play a role in helping Brazil meet its target.

But we should be increasing production here at home; we should welcome new investments; we should be creating jobs and revenue here.

At a time when we are attempting to reduce the deficit and put more Americans back to work, closing off Outer Continental Shelf development opportunities is the wrong choice.

And it’s one we will be feeling the effects of for years…

…What we’re faced with today is choosing between the future we want to see—with jobs and economic growth and revenue generation as part of it all.

Or the future that will be handed to us if we continue on the current course—one that involves more imports, more expensive energy, more deficits.



Let’s make the right choice and set the right agenda.

And then, let’s get right to work on a story we can all be proud of … and one that will be chronicled here in this wonderful building as an American success story.

I believe that we can and I’m confident we will.

Thank you very much.

A summary of this study can be found here.

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