Energy Tomorrow Blog
Trump's NEPA Reform Is Essential For Energy Development
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Sam Winstel
Posted January 27, 2020
In case you missed it, today in Law360, Paul G. Afonso, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, and Ben Norris, Senior Counsel, of the American Petroleum Institute explained why Trump’s NEPA Reform Is Essential For Energy Development:
The White House Council on Environmental Quality’s proposed update to the procedural regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act[1] offers an opportunity to unleash the infrastructure required for sustainable 21st century energy.
Offshore 101: Energy for America’s Future Security
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Mark Green
Posted December 11, 2017
Soon, the Interior Department is expected to release its draft offshore leasing program that will shape natural gas and oil development on the federal outer continental shelf (OCS) for the next five years, 2019-2024. Recognizing that the leasing program only outlines where lease auctions could be conducted, let’s take a look at some offshore basics to provide full context to a process that’s critically important to our country’s future energy security.
Connect Offshore Policy With America's Energy Reality
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Mark Green
Posted October 12, 2017
What we see here are the outlines of a serious disconnect between current U.S. offshore policy and reality – that with the U.S. and the world projected to see significant growth in energy demand, the United States has more than 90 percent of its offshore reserves locked away, unavailable even for the studies and tests needed to determine the potential size and location of those reserves.
Given the long lead times needed to develop the offshore, the United States’ current policy posture needs a course correction.Ensure Tax Reform is Pro-Growth
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Mark Green
Posted August 31, 2017
President Trump’s call for tax reform this week, kicking off the administration’s push for pro-growth measures to spur investment, create jobs and raise earnings is one we can certainly understand. The president said:
“We need a competitive tax code that creates more jobs and higher wages for Americans. It’s time to give American workers the pay raise that they've been looking for, for many, many years. … If we do this, if we unite in the name of common sense and the name of common good, then we will add millions and millions of new jobs, bring back trillions of dollars, and we will give America the competitive advantage that it so desperately needs and has been looking for for so long. It’s time.”
No argument here. The natural gas and oil industry is about economic growth: investing, creating jobs and boosting worker pay for years – on the way to supporting 10.3 million jobs while adding $1.3 trillion to the national economy and aiding growth across all 50 states.
Fix the Russian Sanctions Legislation
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Mark Green
Posted July 6, 2017
Sanctions are a valuable tool of American foreign policy, but U.S. Senate legislation intended to increase sanctions against Russia could harm the competitiveness of a range of U.S. energy companies working around the world, posing risks to U.S. jobs, the economy and individual Americans – and possibly benefiting Russian interests. The House of Representatives should make critical modifications to avoid these unintended consequences while strengthening the package to advance U.S. interests.
Energy and Communities: Highlighting Industry Core Values and Community Engagement
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Kate Lowery
Posted June 1, 2017
Today, API releases a new report that highlights the tangible ways our industry protects the safety and environment – as it also helps local communities. It’s an important document, reflecting the premium placed on responsible energy development by natural gas and oil companies. From the report:
The safety, health and protection of people, the environment and communities are the top priorities for the natural gas and oil industry. Today, natural gas and oil not only power our lives, but are the building blocks for so many of the products that make modern life possible. But this energy and the amazing things derived from it – everything from clothing and cosmetics to state-of-the-art health care devices and medicines – aren’t possible unless responsible development is the centerpiece of everything the industry does.
Safe Offshore Energy Development is in U.S. Best Interest
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Mark Green
Posted September 28, 2016
Safe offshore energy development is a by-product of advanced technologies and equipment, an ever-expanding knowledge base, improved worker training, an effective partnership of industry and regulatory authorities, constantly improving standards for deepwater exploration and production and, over it all, an industry committed to creating and growing a culture of safety in offshore operations.
Offshore Energy Vital to Manufacturing, Energy Security
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Jack Gerard
Posted March 23, 2016
The Obama administration’s decision last week to eliminate the Atlantic from the next federal offshore leasing plan is a step backward for American energy policy. Despite bipartisan support in Congress and from voters in coastal states, the administration is doubling down on a shortsighted policy that keeps 87 percent of federally controlled offshore acreage off limits to energy exploration.
Expanding access to America’s energy resources – both offshore and onshore – is vital to our future energy security and economic growth.
Offshore Plan a Key to America’s Energy Future
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Mark Green
Posted March 14, 2016
When BOEM releases its final program, perhaps this week, watch the Atlantic. A decision to keep the Atlantic lease sale in the five-year plan will say volumes about the administration’s view of offshore energy development. Erik Milito, API director of upstream and industry operations, joined representatives of two other organizations on a conference call with reporters to discuss the next leasing program:
“The possible benefits for developing oil and natural gas off of the Atlantic coast are numerous. The most promising areas for development run all the way from the coasts of Maine to Florida. Official government figures project the possibility of nearly 5 billion barrels of oil and over 37 trillion cubic feet of gas contained by this section of the Atlantic Shelf. This is American energy security, American jobs, U.S. government revenue and American GDP tied up by political red tape. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, stuck, off limits to future generations as it waits for forward-looking energy policy.”
A Flawed Approach on Climate, Energy
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Jack Gerard
Posted September 17, 2015
Below is the first of a short series of posts on the intersection of energy development and efforts to meet climate-change goals. In this post, API President and CEO Jack Gerard comments on the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan and its flawed approach of picking winners and losers in the energy sector.
On Monday, Aug. 3, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced sweeping new carbon regulations for power plants. By Wednesday, Aug. 5, the government announced carbon emissions from power plants in April 2015 reached a 27-year low.
Did the costly, top-down mandates of the Clean Power Plan really work that quickly? Of course not. The dramatic emissions reductions are the result of market forces that have nothing to do with heavy-handed government regulations and everything to do with the fact that the United States is the world’s leading producer of natural gas.