Bill Bush | 202.682.8114 | bushw@api.org
WASHINGTON, May 11, 2011 – Jack Gerard, President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, commented on a letter API sent to congressional leaders today – along with Mark Ayers, President of the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department – on behalf of the Oil & Natural Gas Labor Management Committee, warning that new taxes on oil and natural gas could endanger jobs, harm the economy and reduce energy security:
“Raising taxes on one of the nation’s biggest and steadiest employers when the unemployment numbers are rising is reckless. This is nothing but a distraction from a failed energy policy, and will do nothing to lower gasoline prices or create jobs. This is one of the worst ideas at the worst of times.
“Congress should focus on putting more people to work and producing more of the oil and natural gas we use. Encouraging the U.S. oil and natural gas industry – one of the nation’s most reliable employers – to invest and hire more would increase revenues to the government, boost our economy, and strengthen our energy security.”
API represents more than 470 oil and natural gas companies, leaders of a technology-driven industry that supplies most of America’s energy, supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested more than $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.