WASHINGTON, January 18, 2012 – Jack Gerard, President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute,
presented remarks to reporters this afternoon on President Obama's decision to reject granting a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline:
"Our nation is still struggling to recover from one of the worst economic downturns in its history. Fourteen million Americans remain out of work. Yet the President is now telling us that procedural niceties are preventing him from granting a permit that could put thousands of people to work without spending a single taxpayer dollar?
"He is telling us that more than three years of multiple-agency review are insufficient to advance a project that could supply massive quantities of secure oil – when it is becoming more and more apparent that the security of our international oil supplies is under serious threat?
"He is blocking a multi-billion dollar oil infrastructure project stretching across five states the day after his own Jobs Council has suggested that such projects are critical to helping our economy improve?
"This is all almost too hard to believe. It makes you really question how serious the President is about job creation. We have to ask, Mr. President, what are you thinking?"
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 $85 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.