In Pursuit of All-of-the-Above Energy
Mark Green
Posted June 7, 2012
The Domestic Energy and Jobs Act that’s being pushed forward in the U.S. House is designed to expand and speed up domestic oil and natural gas development. It has seven components:
- Link withdrawals from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to an actual plan to lease more federal lands for energy development.
- Task an interagency panel to analyze EPA rules and actions that impact gasoline and diesel prices.
- Establish an “all-of-the-above” energy program for federal lands that assesses the nation’s needs and establishes production goals from all sources to meet them.
- Open at least 25 percent of federal lands for leasing each year while setting firm timelines for issuing leases and settling lease protests.
- Set up a cost-recovery system for permitting and protests – including concrete timelines for permit approvals – while ensuring that Bureau of Land Management permitting offices are sufficiently staffed.
- Mandate increased leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
- Authorize the Interior secretary to conduct Internet-based auctions for onshore leases.
In letters to legislators, API Upstream and Industry Operations Director Erik Milito stressed the importance of energy resource access as well as regulatory certainty and efficiency:
“Efforts to increase leasing of federal lands and speed up the permitting process are more effective to accomplish these goals than calls to increase industry’s development costs through punitive tax increases, overly complex and burdensome regulations and cumbersome regulatory processes. Rather than rely on energy imports from unstable parts of the world, the United States must develop its own resources.”
Milito wrote that a true made-in-America energy strategy will have broad benefits:
“At a time of economic distress, the U.S. oil and natural gas industry can help revitalize the economy, create new, well-paying jobs, generate millions of dollars of new federal and state revenue, and provide the energy that this nation needs. … API supports a clear, consistent application process and applauds efforts to establish a regulatory environment in which producers can access and develop these abundant resources on federal lands.”
We commend House members for pursuing energy legislation that will help foster greater domestic production – a true all-of-the-above approach – which is critically important to America’s energy security.
About The Author
Mark Green joined API after a career in newspaper journalism, including 16 years as national editorial writer for The Oklahoman in the paper’s Washington bureau. Previously, Mark was a reporter, copy editor and sports editor at an assortment of newspapers. He earned his journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma and master’s in journalism and public affairs from American University. He and his wife Pamela have two grown children and six grandchildren.