Let’s Support Made-in-America Natural Gas and Oil

Mark Green
Posted August 4, 2021

President Biden’s announcement last week that more of a product must be made in the U.S. to conform to the federal Buy American Act – in support of American jobs – provides an opportunity to double down on a point we made in January, when the president advanced “Made in America” concepts via executive order.

In the same spirit, why not advance American-made natural gas and oil and American natural gas and oil jobs?

Natural gas and oil are the leading energy sources used by Americans – and the rest of the world – every day. You’d think that as the world’s leading producer of the world’s leading energy sources, the U.S. would capitalize on that leadership by fostering more safe and responsible development. Unfortunately, not.

The Biden administration halted new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters and canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have significantly supported North American energy through our close relationship with Canada. Meanwhile, some in the administration have suggested a fracking ban is a possibility, and others have supported tax hikes that target our industry.

These could discourage new domestic oil and gas investment, development and jobs – American jobs – all of which have strengthened the economy and our nation’s energy security in the past.

To be clear, the U.S. natural gas and oil industry, with some of the best energy workers and technologies in the world, doesn’t need “buy American” mandates from the government to continue providing safe, reliable energy. Needed are policies that allow access to reserves for safe and responsible development under commonsense regulation – vs. policies that discourage or curb development.

A robust natural gas and oil industry supports U.S. jobs and economic growth. A new PwC analysis for API found that the industry directly and indirectly supported 11.3 million U.S. jobs in 2019, jobs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and supported nearly $1.7 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product or nearly 8% of the national total. In Pennsylvania, where Biden visited last week, our industry directly and indirectly supported more than 480,000 jobs, provided more than $40.4 billion in wages and contributed more than $78 billion to the commonwealth’s economy in 2019.

The strength, breadth and overall importance of the natural gas and oil industry to the U.S. contrasts with what amounts to an import-more-oil strategy pursued by the administration – underscored last month when, amid rising prices at the fuel pump, the White House asked OPEC+ countries to produce more oil in hopes that increased global crude supplies would put downward pressure on prices.

The world’s No. 1 oil and gas producer shouldn’t be going to others, hat in hand, begging them to produce more energy. Rather, we should be fostering safe and responsible development here at home and the jobs and opportunity provided by that development. These points are highlighted in this API video:

In his Pennsylvania remarks, the president said there was a “hollowness” in the made-in-America pushes of previous administrations, which he said his approach would remedy. “We want to be the ones making the innovative parts of every product — the ones that will support more jobs and more small businesses,” Biden said.

We support the president’s goal, yet respectfully point out that his strategy so far risks squandering the American jobs and support for small businesses provided by the natural gas and oil industry.