Energy Archives

US must embrace its energy surge

February 21, 2017 by Justin Williams

The Vindicator | February 21, 2017 | Doug Polk

The nation’s energy security is stronger than it has been in decades. U.S. oil and natural gas production – thanks to the shale revolution happening in states like Ohio – has surged. We are now the world’s largest combined producer of oil and natural gas, but we remain beholden to the uncertainties of the global energy marketplace.

A supply disruption from one major oil-producing nation such as Iran, Russia or Venezuela, can send the global price of oil through the roof. We may be more energy-secure than we have been in the past, but our economy remains vulnerable to price shocks for oil. President Donald Trump now has the opportunity before him to counter that.

The Trump administration would be wise to unleash the full job-creating and economy- boosting potential of the nation’s oil and natural gas industry. Doing so should begin with giving our energy producers greater access to both our onshore and offshore resources. Consider that 94 percent of federally controlled offshore acreage is off-limits to energy exploration.

Allowing greater access to our resources will better allow our energy producers to shift the center of gravity of energy markets away from unstable regions of the world. More oil and natural gas produced in the U.S., a bastion of stability, is not only better for our economy but for the global economy as well.

Global energy demand is expected to rise another 50 percent by 2040, and fossil fuels are expected to meet nearly 80 percent of that demand, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The world needs more energy production, and we must have policies that allow us to step up to the plate.

If we embrace the energy opportunity before us, the benefits could be enormous. Take the economic benefits delivered from the shale revolution: Americans saved $550 on gasoline on average in 2015, according to AAA thanks to increased U.S. energy production. The National Association of Manufacturers reported that the average American household is saving more than $1,337 per year thanks to lower energy costs.

Our manufacturing sector has benefited as well. Lower natural-gas prices, in particular, are spurring manufacturing investment in energy-intensive industries like steel and petrochemical production. U.S. industrial electricity costs are 30 to 50 percent lower than those of our foreign competitors. That means manufacturing costs in the U.S. are now 10 to 20 percent lower than they are in Europe and are projected to fall below manufacturing costs in China by 2018, according to the Boston Consulting Group. This is a competitive edge we must not take for granted.

Read the full op-ed here.

Douglas Polk is the vice president of industry affairs & North American communications at Vallourec USA and NOIA Secretary.

A Better Way on Energy Policy: An American Success Story

September 23, 2016 by Justin Williams

Morning Consult | September 8, 2016 | Rep. Fred Upton

In a world often confronted with bad news, positive developments are welcome. Our nation’s energy situation is providing such relief to what’s often a drought of good news.

Abundant supply, new technologies, market forces, and wise congressional action are all helping write a new chapter in our nation’s energy story. It’s a narrative the American people need to better understand because it represents a better way to power our nation.

We are currently experiencing a North American energy supply renaissance. Gone are the days of snaking gasoline lines and fears about petro-potentate price gouging. America and our Canadian neighbors have discovered vast new storehouses of oil and natural gas we never knew existed. These immense new supplies span the continent like an energy security belt, stretching from Pennsylvania to North Dakota, from Texas to Canada. Our country is now like a super tanker in the ocean of world oil supply.

These abundant resources keep consumer prices stable as our domestic supplies have continued to grow in recent years. According to the Energy Information Administration, from 2011 to 2015 the cost of gasoline at the pump bumped around between $3.25 and almost $4.00 per gallon on average nationally. More recently prices have dipped toward $2 per gallon, not cheap, but certainly welcome relief and stability compared to the price from the higher costs and volatility of the past.

It wasn’t always this way. During the late-1970s and early-1980s our energy world was almost as unstable as a banana republic. Petroleum supplies and prices depended on the whims of brash dictators, hostile regimes, and Washington bureaucrats. Our energy policy was a blend of risky business, arrogant government micro management, and naïve hope, a volatile brew that consistently burned consumers in the process.

Read the full op-ed here.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Voters Say Yes to Energy, No to ‘Keep It in the Ground’

July 27, 2016 by Justin Williams

Real Clear Energy | July 21, 2016 | David Holt

Job growth and the overall economy will be at the top of voters’ minds this coming Election Day, a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll says.

Other polls – from CNN/ORC, CBS News/New York Times, ABC News/Washington Post, USA Today, Bloomberg, Quinnipiac University, and so on – echoed similar sentiments. That’s because trepidation about the economy are shared by all Americans – Republicans, Democrats, Independents, blue states, red states, even you and me.

We all have these worries.

That’s why Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) recently sent a letter to the chairs of both parties – Reince Priebus of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) – asking them to make sure their party maintains its current and reasonable all-of-the-above stance on energy, which mixes renewable resources like solar and wind with safe, reliable – and still very much needed – fossil fuel and nuclear production.

Thanks to America’s once-in-a-generation energy revolution – the byproduct of American resources and innovation, improvements in technologies and techniques, and record-sized increases in oil and natural gas production – national carbon emissions are down to 1993 levels and many of life’s necessities are markedly more affordable.

This was evidenced in a recent study by IHS Global Insight, which said that shale gas production and its accompanying lower natural gas prices contributed $156 billion to real disposable income in 2015 — meaning the average American family had an extra $1,337 in their pocket. Another analysis, from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), said that fracking improved the average cost of living for most Americans by nearly $750 per year since 2008.

With families, especially the most disadvantage among us, spending less to fill their gas tanks and pay their utility bills, they now have more disposable income to pay for life’s must-haves – and even some of its luxuries, like vacations and home-improvement projects, which help further our economic recovery.

The industry has also been an impressive catalyst for sustainable growth, helping power America’s economic recovery by producing jobs, lowering unemployment, and garnering much-needed revenue for all levels of government, which has helped stabilize taxes.

Read the full editorial here.

David Holt is President of the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA).

Revenue-Sharing Push Gains Steam

June 30, 2016 by Justin Williams

Environment & Energy Daily | June 30, 2016 | Hannah Hess

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) unveiled legislation yesterday that would expand the sharing of offshore oil and gas revenues with coastal states, and streamline environmental review of solar, wind and geothermal projects on public lands.

The bill, dubbed the "American Energy and Conservation Act," would also establish a revenue-sharing system for the states and counties that host the renewable energy projects.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined Cassidy and four other Republicans as an original co-sponsor of the legislation, boosting its chances for speedy consideration and potential inclusion in a House-Senate energy conference committee.

"Revenue sharing will receive a vote on the Senate floor," Cassidy said yesterday, hailing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Murkowski for their commitment to addressing the issue.

With Congress poised to adjourn for the summer on July 15, Murkowski has been angling to get Democrats on board with conference talks (Greenwire, May 26).

Murkowski told reporters yesterday that she and ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) were laying out a process to tackle disagreements in conference (Greenwire, June 29).

Whether 60 senators will support going to conference with the House on energy remains an open question, especially with the potential inclusion of revenue-sharing legislation.

Cassidy pushed the issue during the three terms he served in the House. More recently, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) stymied Cassidy's effort to set up a vote on revenue sharing during the Senate energy bill debate (E&E Daily, April 14).

Read the full story here.

Institute for Energy Research: Voting For Energy

June 17, 2016 by Justin Williams

Forbes | June 14, 2016 | Robert Bradley, Jr.

Despite the divisiveness of this election season, Americans from both parties share common ground. As polls show, voters want the next president to inject life into our sluggish economy.

The nation created only 38,000 jobs last month, according to the Department of Labor. Economists had expected 162,000. This continues the lackluster economic climate that has now marked most of the present century.

To turn around the U.S. economy, the next president will need to embrace free-market, consumer-driven, pro-taxpayer, policies. And when it comes to energy, that means the market’s preference for oil, natural gas, and coal. Candidates and voters take heed: the 2016 presidential contest is a referendum on energy.

A New Energy Blueprint

Ronald Reagan reversed the damaging energy policies of Jimmy Carter eight days after taking office in early 1981. The next president should promptly undo the current President’s anti-energy agenda.

A good start would be to reverse the decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. This project would have transported oil from Western Canada to America’s Gulf Coast,creating 42,000 jobs in the process.

“Gateway to Health and Wealth”

Fossil fuels are the lynchpin of the American economy. The oil and gas industry supports 9.8 million jobs across the country and contributes over $1.2 trillion to the U.S. economy every year. The recent shale energy revolution has saved American families and businesses an average of $1,200 a year for electricity, and $550 annuallyat the pump. But there is much more that can be accomplished.

In their new book, Fueling Freedom, Stephen Moore and Kathleen Hartnett White discuss the great untapped riches of energy resources on federal lands (including in offshore waters) that await a stroke of the presidential pen for exploration and development.

This “gateway to heath and wealth,” in their words, concerns estimated recoverable reserves of 1.5 trillion barrels of oil and three quadrillion cubic feet. At current prices, these resources represent $50 trillion dollars (yes, that is a ‘t’ and not a ‘b’). For comparison, all the gold in Fort Knox — approximately 150 million ounces — is worth less than a quarter-trillion dollars, less than 1 percent, of the nominal value of untapped energy on federal lands.

Read the full op-ed here.

Robert L. Bradley, Jr. is the founder and CEO of the Institute for Energy Research.