Choose the Energy Solution
Mark Green
Posted December 21, 2012
The numbers themselves are stop-and-stare huge:
- $127 billion in additional revenues for governments by 2020 from increased domestic oil and natural gas activity.
- $2.5 trillion in cumulative federal, state and local tax receipts to be generated between now and 2035 by America’s shale energy revolution – oil and natural gas from fracking.
- $5.1 trillion in cumulative capital spending by America’s oil and gas companies on unconventional development by 2035 – an energy stimulus lifting the core of the U.S. economy.
We bring these numbers up because as Washington wrestles with its budget problems, America’s oil and natural gas companies can be the solution – adding jobs, economic value and energy to drive the long-term economic and general prosperity of our country. So, what are decision-makers waiting for?
Good question. With the right policies we can redeem a winning lottery ticket – one based on ample U.S. energy resources, outlined in a number of recent studies depicting the game-changing vastness of this country’s oil and natural gas reserves.
Pro-growth policies on new drilling, onshore and offshore, common-sense regulation and approaches that will foster an optimal investment climate can put America’s energy wealth to work, creating a sustainable path where America is creating jobs, revitalizing key economic sectors like manufacturing and chemicals, helping governments meet their obligations and becoming more secure in the world.
This is the right choice for our country, one that’s consistent with the historic and successful role private-sector growth has played in building America’s economy and our modern way of life. Hindering growth – by taking a self-limiting approach to the oil and natural gas we have, by binding up potential development in miles of red tape, by chilling private investment – is the wrong path.
Let’s close with two charts, favorites of ours because they vividly show what pro-growth energy policies could do – for job creation:
And for generating revenues for government:
America’s oil and natural gas industry supports 9.2 million jobs and is investing in America – $1.3 billion a day in 2010 – betting on an energy-rich nation with the power to shape its future. If it chooses.
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.