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If Energy Officials Want to Attend Today's White House Event, They'll Have to Crash It

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 3, 2009 | Emily Lawrimore
As the White House’s “jobs-but-not-job-creation-summit” kicks off, I wanted to point out a few recent articles that clearly demonstrate why the President made a serious mistake by not inviting officials from American energy companies to attend today’s event and offer their ideas. After all, the oil and natural gas industry supports 9.2 million American jobs and adds more than $1 trillion (7.5% of our nation’s wealth) to the national economy.
  1. Robert Samuelson of Newsweek writes:

    “Obama can't be fairly blamed for most job losses, which stemmed from a crisis pre-dating his election. But he has made a bad situation somewhat worse. His unwillingness to advance trade agreements (notably, with Colombia and South Korea) has hurt exports. The hostility to oil and gas drilling penalizes one source of investment.”

    Remember:

    According to the American Energy Alliance (AEA), lifting the moratoria on energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) would generate:

    • 1.2 million jobs annually across the country
    • $8 trillion in economic output to the GDP
    • $2.2 trillion in total tax receipts
    • $70 billion in additional wages each year

    However, on September 17th, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar hinted that the Obama Administration may not move forward with a new plan to open up the OCS until 2012. As Ranking Member Hastings said, “this means that a six month public comment period will soon become a three year ban on offshore drilling. This is unacceptable and irresponsible energy policy. It will cost American jobs, hurt our economy and increase our dependence on foreign oil.”

  1. Steve Mufson of the Washington Post writes:

    “Recoverable U.S. gas reserves could now be bigger than the immense gas reserves of Russia, some experts say…. Just in Broome County, N.Y., where Fitzsimmons lives, shale gas development could create $15 billion in economic activity, according to consultants hired by the county.”

    Remember:

    Instead of promoting the development of U.S. gas reserves, the Obama Administration has taken repeated steps to increase taxes and regulation on the companies that are working on new shale gas development.

  1. Michael Fletcher and Ben Pershing of the Washington Post report:

    “Many ideas that would greatly increase deficit are likely to be rejected.”

    Remember:

    In addition to rejecting ideas that would increase the deficit, the White House is also rejecting ideas that would DECREASE the deficit. As noted above, opening up the OCS would bring in $2.2 trillion in tax receipts each year which would help decrease the Obama/Pelosi deficit. However, President Obama continues to turn a blind eye to using domestic energy development to create new jobs and reduce the deficit.