WASHINGTON, January 19, 2012 – A host of new rules, policies and administrative actions unconducive to oil and natural gas development on federal lands has significantly slowed the rate of leasing, permitting and drilling in these areas since 2009, a new study released today says. This has cost jobs, energy production and revenue to our government.
"Federal lands policies are slowing the development of vitally needed energy", said Kyle Isakower, API vice president of regulatory and economic policy. "This undermines America's energy security and deprives the nation of a much needed spur to job creation and economic growth. Unfortunately, not only is the administration slowing domestic oil and gas development, but it has now also blocked the Keystone XL pipeline, which promised to give us more access to increased secure supplies of Canadian oil while also generating tens of thousands of American jobs."
The study –
Employment, Government Revenue, and Energy Security Impacts of Current Federal Lands Policy in the Western U.S. – said new Bureau of Land Management oil and gas leases were down 44 percent in 2009/2010 compared with 2007/2008. Permits and new wells drilled were both down 39 percent. The study noted that the trend continued in 2011. While the economic downturn in 2007 was a factor in the decline, the study said, the decline in leasing, permitting and drilling was nearly twice as great on federal as compared with non-federal lands. The study also said a greater decline occurred in 2009/2010 compared with other recessionary periods.
"If we could simply return leasing, permitting and drilling to where they were in 2007/2008, our economy could benefit enormously," said Isakower. If that were to happen, the study said, as many as 30,000 jobs could be created throughout the economy over the next four years, and federal royalties could rise by $2 billion.
EIS Solutions in Grand Junction, Colorado, prepared the study for API.
API represents more than 490 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 more than $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.