Energy Today - March 15, 2011
Rayola Dougher
Posted March 15, 2011
New Jersey Journal: Facts Don't Support Administration's Claims About Gas Prices: There may be 126 rigs, but Kyle Isakower, vice president of regulatory and economic policy at the American Petroleum Institute, set the record straight in an article titled "Facts Don't Support Claims on Gulf of Mexico Oil Production" - revealing a distortion in "the true number of working rigs." The word "working" is significant. Four days before the Gulf oil spill just 55 rigs were working, and last week - only 25. More than one hundred idle rigs may be a record in someone's book, but not one I would brag about. Isakower likens it to "claiming the job market is great because a lot of people are unemployed and available to work." Average Americans have no idea the great lengths this administration has taken to stop oil production by thumbing its nose at the federal judge who ordered an end to the drilling ban. Well-versed in constitutional law, the administration found a way to defy the judge's ruling by creating a de facto moratorium that refused the granting of drilling permits. Energy In Depth: Independent Panel Finds Louisiana Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Program "well-managed, professional and meeting its program objectives": Last week, the not-for-profit organization known as the State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations (STRONGER) issued its latest report examining the strength of state-based hydraulic fracturing regulatory programs - this time, singling out the state of Louisiana and its regulators for executing a "well-managed" program across the state. STRONGER is a non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization tasked by the Interstate Oil Compact Commission (IOCC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review the effectiveness of various states' oil and gas regulatory structures.
Say Anything Blog: Poll: 66% Say Obama Should Allow More Oil Drilling: Americans get it. Energy markets are complex and global. A lot of the world's most important energy resource, oil, is controlled by unstable and/or dictatorial regimes. But as energy prices spiral, there is one thing our government can do to give Americans relief. And that is get out of the way of the energy producers so that they can, well, produce energy. (The Hill) - Rising energy prices are prompting support among likely voters for expanding U.S. drilling and releasing oil from the country's emergency stockpiles, a new poll conducted for The Hill shows. By a 66-25 percent margin, likely voters say President Obama should encourage more oil and gas exploration offshore, and by a 50-35 percent margin they favor releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to moderate gas price increases.
Wall Street Journal: Why North Dakota Is Booming: Living on the harsh, wind-swept northern Great Plains, North Dakotans lean towards the practical in economic development. Finding themselves sitting on prodigious pools of oil--estimated by the state's Department of Mineral Resources at least 4.3 billion barrels--they are out drilling like mad. And the state is booming. Unemployment is 3.8%, and according to a Gallup survey last month, North Dakota has the best job market in the country. Its economy "sticks out like a diamond in a bowl of cherry pits," says Ron Wirtz, editor of the Minneapolis Fed's newspaper, fedgazette.
Additional Resources:
National Review Online: The Corner: Study: Energy Regulation Preventing Job Creation
National Review Online: The Corner: Support for Offshore, ANWR Drilling Reaches New Heights
Energy Tribune: NY Times' Coverage of Pennsylvania Environmental Regulation is a "Fraud"