The President's remarks about oil and natural gas development during the State of the Union speech Wednesday triggered many thoughtful--and thought-provoking--comments from bloggers around the country.

As the president said in his speech:

"[W]e need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development."

The National Association of Manufacturers' (NAM) Shopfloor blog hailed the president's comments but pointed out a disconnect between his statements and a cabinet-level agency:

"President Obama is certainly right in saying it's time" to make decisions on oil and natural development, Shopfloor wrote, but it add... more »

We are encouraged by the President's words that decisions need to be made about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.

These are important and necessary decisions for the American people and the American economy. Greater access to America's vast oil and natural gas resources would bring more domestic energy, thousands of American jobs, billions in government revenues and less reliance on imported energy.

We support the President on jobs and are ready to do our part putting more Americans back to work. But to create these jobs, we will need policies that allow investment and development--policies that are pro-job, pro-consumer and pro-energy.

We are ready to work with the administration to help make that happen.

--------------------------------------------------

Update on F... more »

There's a lot to like about the planned Virginia offshore lease sale. It's believed the leasing area could contain 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

If energy companies are allowed to develop this offshore energy, they could create about 2,600 jobs, make about $8 billion in capital investments and generate $271 million in Virginia state and local taxes, providing a huge boost to the Commonwealth's economy.

With economic benefits of that magnitude hanging in the balance, news reports stating that the Interior Department would delay the lease sale triggered strong responses from Virginia's officials yesterday. Gov. Bob McDonnell said his office hadn't been informed of the delay, adding, "Any delay beyond 2011, I would strongly oppose."

Gov. McDonnell, wh... more »

Today the American Petroleum Institute (API) offered comments responding to allegations that API President and CEO Jack Gerard misrepresented facts about oil and natural gas leasing:

"Mr. Gerard stands by his facts. Interior doesn't rebut one--and can't. The bottom line is that Interior is not moving forward with leasing to provide for America's energy future, which would also create thousands of jobs for Americans and generate billions of dollars in government revenue.

Interior's attack on the veracity of Mr. Gerard's comments is pure dissimulation. It fails to address Mr. Gerard's point that leased acreage plunged in 2009 and concedes that lease revenues collapsed by more than 90 percent during the first year of this Interior Department.

As an industry that supports more than 9.2 million... more »

An editorial in today's Investor's Business Daily discusses the administration's pattern of delay when it comes to developing U.S. domestic oil and natural gas resources.

The author explains that not only is the administration tying up oil and gas exploration in red tape, but it's also threatening to raise costs "at the expense of the country as a whole."

The administration's actions are prolonging the already lengthy regulatory process required to develop oil and natural gas for the future--as well as discouraging the industry from creating American jobs and boosting the economy.

For more, read the full Investor's Business Daily editorial.