WASHINGTON, March 20, 2012 - In testimony to the House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Energy and Natural Resources, API’s Group Director for Upstream and Industry Operations Erik Milito urged Congress and the administration to promote energy policies that would aid the nation’s economic recovery and help reduce its debt:
“Our nation can and should be producing here at home more of the oil and natural gas Americans need. At a time when the United States still must import half the oil it consumes, we should be adding to our supplies from our own ample domestic resources. This would strengthen our energy security and help put downward pressure on prices while also providing many thousands of new jobs for Americans and billions of dollars in additional revenue for our government.
“Policy leadership for creating and overseeing a more robust program of safe and responsible development has been absent. We continue to hear about an “all-of-the above” energy approach. An “all-of-the-above” approach makes sense, but all-of-the-above necessarily includes oil and natural gas. The administration’s projections show that oil and natural gas will supply most of the nation’s energy for decades to come. Yet while the administration claims to support an “all-of-the-above” approach, we continue to see proposals to increase taxes on the industry, decisions that reduce opportunities for leasing and resource development, processes that string out permitting, and continued regulatory uncertainty.”
API represents more than 500 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.