Avoid Unintended Consequences

Jane Van Ryan
Posted June 3, 2010

Yesterday in a post on the National Journal's Energy and Environment Blog, API President and CEO Jack Gerard said policymakers should avoid enacting new policies and regulations that could have a negative impact on the nation's energy security and economic future.

He cautioned that poor policy decisions could have the unintended consequences of destroying jobs and hurting the economy.

In this video, watch Jack talk about striking the right balance in energy legislation

As an example, Jack cited the congressional effort to change the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund:

"Altering the liability cap on the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund could force small and mid-sized energy companies out of the market, relegating offshore production only to large, self-insured companies and nationally-owned or operated companies from other countries. The U.S. oil and natural gas industry supports 9.2 million workers, 170,000 of whom work in the Gulf. With the official U.S. unemployment rate at 9.9 percent, this is not the time to jeopardize U.S. energy jobs or harm the economy."

Jack also said that the oil and natural gas industry has redoubled its commitment to safe and reliable operations.

In this video, watch Jack talk about the oil and natural industry's commitment to safety.

For more information, read the full National Journal blog post. And for the videos featured in this blog post and more videos on all things energy, please visit the YouTube Energy Channel where you can watch, rate, comment and share videos.