Subsequent to the release of this letter, Institute for Energy Research (IER) vice-president Dan Kish released the following statement:

“What this letter suggests is that Sec. Salazar isn’t looking to kick the can down the road when it comes to responsible offshore exploration – he’s looking to take that can, crush it, and then shut down the road altogether. Despite the overwhelming majority of Americans supporting robust energy development off our coasts, this Administration continues to view our domestic energy resources as an environmental liability, not the job-creating assets that they are.”

In particular, Mr. Kish pointed to a letter from the Interior Department dated February 3 in which a prospective timeline is laid out for conducting a Programmatic Environment Impact Statement (PEIS) on the Atlantic OCS. A PEIS must be completed prior to seismic testing taking place — a process that will ultimately determine where oil and gas resources are located beneath the seafloor.  In addition to the PEIS, additional permits and environmental analyses must take place prior to holding a lease sale.

“Tossing a few acres up for lease, as this Administration has done, and implementing a robust plan to safely expand domestic oil and gas production are two radically different things. This decision to slow-walk development in the Atlantic is perfectly consistent with the administration’s record on these issues – and perfectly inconsistent with its rhetoric.

“Sec. Salazar is breaking all speed records to deploy the most expensive and unreliable forms of energy that exist, while dragging his feet on the type of energy that makes America run.  He is establishing a road map that sends us off an energy cliff, at the expense of American jobs and economic growth.”

Note: Click HERE to view the letter from the Department of the Interior to Members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committee outlining the proposed Atlantic OCS PEIS.

For additional information, please contact Patrick Creighton, 202-621-2947, or Laura Henderson, 202-621-2951.

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It has recently come to light, through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by American Solutions, that there may be more here than meets the eye. More on that in a second; first, a bit of history on what led up to what is now called “drill gate.”

In July 2008, when oil prices reached $147 a barrel, the Institute for Energy Research called on President Bush to end the moratorium on additional offshore energy exploration and development. For years and through both Republican and Democratic administrations, the Federal government had not allowed new offshore energy exploration or production. But when oil prices hit new highs, President Bush saw the light and started the process of opening up new areas for energy development.

President Bush saw that the public wanted new offshore energy production. The public favored additional offshore drilling by a 2 to 1 margin and President Bush acted accordingly, implementing the necessary regulation to open up new areas for energy development.

Less than a month after taking office, instead of moving forward with the plan the Bush Administration proposed, President Obama and his Interior Secretary Ken Salazar decided that first, they needed 6 additional months to hear from the American people. They made this decision despite the fact that the Bush Administration had already solicited comments from concerned citizens; the Obama Administration wanted more time for even more comments.

Maybe they hoped that by waiting 6 months, environmental groups and their well-honed letter writing operations would send more comments to the Administration than people who want increased energy security and jobs created by offshore energy development. But if that was the Administration’s plan, it backfired.

The Institute for Energy Research and several other like-minded groups organized our own plans to help Americans let their government know they favored additional offshore energy production. Unfortunately for the Obama Administration, our efforts paid off. The Administration received pro-drilling comments from the public by a 2 to 1 margin.

But here’s the catch… the Obama Administration didn’t publicize this information, despite having the information months ago. We only recently found out because another pro-energy, pro-jobs, pro-economic growth group, American Solutions used the Freedom of Information Act to pry this information from the Administration.

So why does offshore drilling matter? One reason is that it will create a lot of new jobs. In fact, one study estimates that over a million U.S. jobs are locked away in the job-creating energy resources we have offshore. Also, by producing oil and natural gas at home we’ll help stabilize the world market for oil, holding the price lower.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama said that he was open to offshore energy production. Now is the time for him to walk the walk and not just talk the talk on offshore energy and jobs production.

• IER President: “Americans need jobs and America needs fuel to drive economic growth and prosperity. Increasing domestic energy production is a common sense solution embraced by a clear majority of Americans”

Washington, DC – Today, one in 10 Americans are out of work. However, the Obama Administration has the opportunity to help create hundreds of thousands of jobs, increase America’s long-term energy security and reduce our dependence on imported energy by allowing responsible, environmentally-sound offshore energy production.

“The President has directed an enormous amount of hard-earned tax dollars to prop up ‘green jobs’ that would otherwise not exist without heavy and ongoing government support. At the same time, this Administration has discouraged common sense job creation efforts, especially responsible offshore oil and gas development,” said Thomas J. Pyle, president of the market-oriented Institute for Energy Research (IER). “And despite widespread public support for increasing all forms of domestic energy – especially offshore – the President and his Administration continue to add layers of red tape and bureaucratic hurdles on access to homegrown energy.”

Pyle is referring to the job-creating energy resources along the outer continental shelf (OCS), an energy-rich area located between 3 and 200 miles off our coast. Developing oil and gas reserves along the OCS has the potential to create 1.2 million jobs and provide an additional $70 billion in annual wages.

“This Administration continues to embrace Washington-dominated, command-and-control national energy policies focused on mandates, subsidies and political favors – not market forces,” continued Pyle. “Subsidizing one form of energy, while restricting the exploration of another, will lead to several measurable outcomes: increased energy prices across the board, fewer jobs and a weaker footing in the global economy.”

According to the Interior Department, this Administration has leased less taxpayer-owned land than any other year on record during its first year in office, while realizing one-tenth the amount of revenue from leasing taxpayer-owned land than it did in 2008.

Pyle notes that free enterprise continues to create tens of thousands of energy-related jobs right here at home.

“Without a government handout or a Washington mandate, natural gas production created nearly 48,000 jobs last year in Pennsylvania alone,” said Pyle. “Now more than ever, Americans need jobs and America needs fuel to drive economic growth and prosperity. Increasing domestic energy production is a common sense solution embraced by a clear majority of Americans. If the President was serious about redirecting our economy and helping to put struggling Americans back to work, he’d move forward aggressively to expand domestic energy production.”

More from IER:

• OCS Economic Impact Study
• Actions Speak Louder Than Words on Domestic Energy Production
• IER sets the record straight on Obama Admin energy leasing program

For additional information, please contact Patrick Creighton, 202-621-2947, or Laura Henderson, 202-621-2951.

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WASHINGTON – Following President Obama’s remarks on “green” jobs and “clean energy technology,” Thomas J. Pyle, president of the market based Institute for Energy Research (IER), issued the following statement on the President’s commitment of $2.3 billion additional taxpayer dollars to further subsidize the wind and solar energy industry:

“Show me one other industry that requests and receives a nearly 30 percent taxpayer subsidy. That’s what the wind and solar industries require – at a minimum – to exist. All the President did today is throw more money at an unproven technology that is not economically viable in the marketplace.  Unfortunately, the only winners in this latest taxpayer giveaway will be Wall Street money managers and corporate interests in the wind and solar industry.

“If the President really wants to create an environment that will foster economic growth and job creation, he need not look any further than the domestic oil, gas and coal industries. These three industries and energy sources built this nation. For the Administration to continue to ignore this fact and to keep the vast resources that taxpayers own under lock and key at the Department of Interior is irresponsible and a disservice to the American people.

“The outer continental shelf (OCS), if opened for business, would create over 1 million high-wage jobs. It would reduce our dangerous dependence on hostile nations for their energy resources and spur economic growth across all fifty states. Development of these energy resources will create sustainable employment, not taxpayer dependent make-work jobs.

“Unfortunately, today’s announcement only continues the expensive, failed energy policy this Administration brought to town one year ago.  The American people deserve better than this.”

Studies: IER Green Jobs Resources

IER Press Release: 1.2 Million Energy Jobs Available, Will Obama Admin. Open OCS for Business?

Wall Street Journal: Clean Energy Sources: Sun, Wind and Subsidies

Fact Sheet: Facts on Wind Energy

Fact Sheet: Facts on Solar Energy

For additional information, please contact Patrick Creighton, 202-621-2947, or Laura Henderson, 202-621-2951.

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Washington, DC – Today, Rasmussen Reports released a poll finding that nearly 70 percent of Americans support responsible offshore energy exploration and production. Thomas J. Pyle, president of the non-partisan Institute for Energy Research (IER), issued this statement:

“The American public understand full-well that energy stability and security and economic strength and prosperity are underpinned by access to reliable supplies of oil and gas. Today’s report not only reinforces what most of the American people already believe, but should also serve at a wake-up call to the Administration, which should move forward aggressively with a commonsense 5-year offshore energy plan.

“America’s oil and gas industry represents nearly 7 percent of the U.S. economy and accounts for more than 9 million permanent, good-paying jobs. Unlocking our nation’s offshore energy reserves could create over one million family-supporting jobs at a time when they’re desperately needed. At the same time, increasing American energy production will help drive down and stabilize prices for struggling families, senior and small businesses, helping to strengthen America’s ability to compete in the global economy.”

READ MORE

• Click HERE to view the full Rasmussen poll on-line.
• Click HERE to view a comprehensive offshore energy economic analysis.

For additional information, please contact Patrick Creighton, 202-621-2947, or Laura Henderson, 202-621-2951.

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Washington, DC – Tomorrow, President Obama, business and labor leaders, academics and other elected officials will gather at the White House for a jobs summit. Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), issued the following statement on the positive economic impacts that safe, responsible offshore energy exploration could have on our nation’s ailing economy and our long-term energy security:

“Affordable energy is the linchpin to a strong and prosperous nation and workforce. And there isn’t an industry that can produce more good-paying jobs more quickly, especially through responsibly expanding homegrown offshore energy production. For more than 25 years, presidents and leaders in Congress — of both political stripes — have kept enormous amounts of America’s job-creating energy resources off-limits.

“Inaction and the status quo cannot be accepted any longer — especially with today’s 26-year high unemployment rate. If the president and Congress are serious about crafting solutions to help put Americans back to work, they will move forward quickly with a commonsense plan to access more homegrown energy resources on and offshore.

“With more than 115 billion barrels of recoverable oil and over 565 trillion cubic feet of natural gas located off our shores, energy exploration along the outer continental shelf (OCS) could add more than $270 billion to our economy each year. To families, seniors and small businesses struggling to make ends meet, that’s good news. Our leaders in Washington should recognize that these resources are an asset, not a liability.”

According to an economic analysis of the proven resources located on the OCS — over the life of the production — access to America’s offshore oil and gas reserves could generate:

• $8 trillion in additional economic output (GDP);

• $2.2 trillion in total tax receipts;

• 1.2 million new, well-paying jobs annually across the country; and

• $70 billion in additional wages each year.

To read a more complete economic analysis of our offshore energy reserves, click here.

For additional information, please contact Patrick Creighton, 202-621-2947, or Laura Henderson, 202-621-2951.

*This press release has been updated to reflect the proper location of the jobs summit.

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“Oil and natural gas are, and will remain for many years to come, a cornerstone of our nation’s energy base.” -Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, March 19, 2009.

The Department of Interior recently issued a press release that stated, “Since January of 2009, the Minerals Management Service has conducted two offshore auctions and Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has held 29 onshore oil and gas lease sales.  Together these sales offered more than 55 million acres of U.S. public land for oil and natural gas exploration and development and generated more than $931 million in revenues that are shared between the states and federal government.”

Sound good?  It isn’t.  While these numbers may sound impressive, a closer look at the data reveals a different story. So do U.S. Treasury receipts from oil and gas lease sales, which last year were more than $10 billion in revenues – more than ten times the amount of revenue generated from lease sales under the Obama Administration in 2009.

Onshore:

To date, the Obama Administration has offered 2,888,354 onshore acres for lease, of which 1,028,299 have actually been leased.  The Administration also rescinded or deferred 77,055 acres that were issued for lease in Utah in 2008.  Accounting for this subtraction, fewer onshore acres were leased in 2009 than any other year on record. One explanation for the record low number of acres leased can be attributed to the Administration’s decision to rescind or defer the majority of the Utah leases issued in December 2008.  As Kathleen Sgamma, government affairs director for Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, recently noted, “Why would any company want to go through the time and expense of participating in lease sales when there’s zero certainty that the leases will be issued and that there will be any return on their investment?”

Offshore:

Of the nearly 53 million offshore acres offered for lease in 2009, roughly 2.7 million were actually leased.  Lease sale 208, which was mandated by Congress under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 and finalized one week before the Obama Administration took office, accounted for:

• 65 percent of the total offshore acreage offered;
• 70 percent of total offshore acreage leased; and
• 74 percent of the $930 million in revenues collected this year from all onshore and offshore leases.

The charts below compare the offshore acreage offered and leased under the discretion of the Obama Administration to previous years.

Conclusion:

The numbers speak for themselves.  It’s been over a year since the vast majority of the American people demanded more domestic energy production.   And one year later, with a record number of Americans out of work and a federal deficit spinning out of control, the Obama administration can take credit for leasing the smallest amount of taxpayer-owned lands in recent history, bringing in less than one tenth of the $10 billion in revenue generated from lease sales last year, and vastly reducing the opportunities to put Americans to work producing American energy.  If the goal is less energy, less revenue, and fewer American jobs, the Administration is well on its way to fulfilling its mission.

Washington, DC – Offshore energy exploration and production in the United States is safe and environmentally sound. Over the past 50 years, the U.S. oil and gas industry has developed innovative, 21^st century technologies and exploration techniques that are efficient, pose little threat to the environment, and ensure worker safety.

According to the National Academies of Science, less than 1 percent of the oil found in the North American marine environment comes from oil and gas development. Nearly 60 percent, however, is the result of natural seeps.

Thomas J. Pyle, president of the market-oriented Institute for Energy Research (IER), issued this statement in response to today’s Senate Energy Committee hearing on environmental stewardship and offshore energy production:

“Technology and innovation remains key to delivering more homegrown, job-creating American energy, both onshore and off. The facts and history demonstrate that offshore energy production, with today’s 21^st century technologies, poses little to no threat to our marine environment. In fact, marine life actually flourishes in waters shared with energy infrastructure.

“Unfortunately, a de-facto ban on safe, responsible offshore domestic energy development remains in place today, despite the fact that a clear majority of American people want access to the energy that is rightfully theirs. Advanced technologies currently deployed throughout the western Gulf of Mexico – which help deliver huge amounts of energy to keep our economy fueled and moving each day – are testament to the strides made to ensure environmental safety.

“Last summer the American people spoke, and Congress responded when it retired the nearly 30-year ban. It’s time for this administration to unchain the federal government’s stranglehold on so much of our nation’s job-creating energy resources offshore. Slow-walking this commonsense action could make the next energy crisis pale in comparison to the pain of $4 gasoline working families and small businesses felt during the summer of 2008.”

NOTE: Here is brief overview of some of the advanced, 21^st century offshore energy exploration technologies:

Advanced 3-D seismic and 4-D time imaging technologies: enable offshore operators to locate oil and gas resources far more accurately to necessitate less drilling and allow greater resource recovery.

Storm chokes: placed on all offshore wells to detect damage to surface valves and shut down production during an emergency.

Blowout preventers: continuously monitor the subsurface and subsea-bed conditions to prepare for unexpected changes in well pressure.

Waste product reuse technology: transforms drill cuttings, a waste product of rock pieces and drilling fluids produced when drilling a well, into raw material for bricks, roads, and even rebuilding Louisiana’s wetlands.

For additional information, please contact Patrick Creighton, 202-621-2947, or Laura Henderson, 202-621-2951.

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Not true, as you can see here.

This week Senator John Kerry, the lead author of the legislation, told the Senate Finance Committee that “the reason” we need to pass his cap-and-trade energy tax is that “over the last eight years, emissions in the United States of America in greenhouse gases went up four times faster than in the 1990s.”  Also not true.  In fact, he’s off by a factor of 32.

As the video shows, greenhouse gas emissions increased far slower in the 2000s than the 1990s. According to data from the Energy Information Administration,[1] U.S. carbon dioxide emissions increased by 15.14% between 1990 and 1999, but from 2001 to 2008 carbon dioxide emissions only increased by 1.88%. If Senator Kerry were correct, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions would have increased by 60.5% over the last 8 years, but they only increased by 1.88%.  Senator Kerry overestimated U.S. emissions by a factor of 32.

These are the authors of the Kerry-Boxer cap-and-trade energy tax legislation.  If our leaders can’t stick to the basic facts to support their argument for a national energy tax, and the lead author of the bill is this far off the mark on “the reason” Congress needs to pass it, Americans might reasonably question the validity of their estimates on how much the bill will cost them and our nation’s already-struggling economy.

Even more troubling, Senator Lindsey Graham is now working with Senator Kerry on a “compromise” in which Senators’ would accept the cap-and-trade plan in exchange for “opening new areas for offshore drilling.”  This would have been a bad compromise last year, but given the fact that the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is now open—and has been since Congress allowed its ban on offshore drilling to expire on October 1, 2008—it appears to be an even worse compromise this year.

If the compromise is anything like the “Gang of 10” plan offered last year in the months before the Congressional ban on drilling in 85 percent of the OCS was set to expire, the only thing we’d be compromising is the progress we’ve already made. That’s because the Gang of 10 plan would have created a permanent ban on drilling in 78 percent of our offshore areas—areas that are now open.

But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the compromise may be.  The long-term costs cap-and-trade legislation would inflict on our economy and our way of life would be so devastating, that no compromise – offshore drilling or anything else – would justify its passage.

“It doesn’t take an advanced legal mind to interpret what Congress meant in the Deep Water Royalty Relief Act – it’s right there in black and white. Unfortunately, now that this case has officially come to a close, it will likely be used by those who oppose responsible energy development as a cudgel to beat Congress into passing bad legislation that would otherwise have no legitimate place in the energy debate.

“Make no mistake. Oil and gas revenues from federal lands and waters contributed more than $23 billion dollars to the Treasury in 2008 – making this the single largest revenue raiser after federal income tax receipts. And with scarcely three percent of the outer continental shelf currently leased for energy exploration, it’s fair to say we haven’t even scratched the surface of what could be a multi-trillion-dollar resource.

“Today’s court ruling represents a clear victory for the rule of law, and an unambiguous rebuke to those in the administration who believe they have the unilateral power to make law, instead of the faithful obligation to enforce it.”

Note: According to an economic analysis commissioned by the American Energy Alliance, robust offshore energy exploration and production would generate $8 trillion in additional economic output (GDP); $2.2 trillion in total tax receipts; 1.2 million new, well-paying jobs annually across the country; and $70 billion in additional wages each year.

For additional information, please contact Patrick Creighton, 202-621-2947, or Laura Henderson, 202-621-2951.

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