The House spill bill that passed today will cost American jobs, slow economic growth and will place our energy security at risk.

This is an anti-jobs, anti-consumer and anti-energy bill. Instead of addressing the risks of offshore development by improving safety and establishing a robust system for covering the costs of possible future accidents, this bill effectively bans development and sends thousands of workers in offshore communities to the unemployment lines.

The unlimited liability provisions will drive the vast majority of American companies out of U.S. waters because they will not be able to obtain insurance coverage. Those remaining will be subject to huge cost hikes, reducing energy production, economic growth, American jobs and government revenues.

While the House recognized th... more »

Several activities are underway today that could have a significant impact on America's energy policy. They include congressional efforts to pass energy legislation as well as the killing of the leaking Macondo well.

Today the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2009 (CLEAR) Act. This bill is purported to be a response to the Gulf oil spill, but it reaches far beyond the accident.

If passed, it would impose higher energy taxes, require the federal takeover of state offshore waters, restrict offshore energy development and remove the liability cap on oil spill damages, which would exclude small- to mid-size energy companies from operating in the Gulf.

The bill is a jobs killer and API opposes it. The House is likel... more »

With the House and the Senate poised to vote on energy bills before the August recess, editorial and op-ed writers are taking Congress to task for neglecting the primary issues confronting the United States today--jobs and the economy.

At a time when millions of Americans are out of work and worried about their family budgets, they say Congress and the administration are using the oil spill to enact legislation that could do more economic harm than good:

In a Houston Chronicle op-ed, Harry C. Alford of the National Black Chamber of Commerce writes that Congress is addressing the Gulf oil spill "calamity with an even more damaging response--tax increases on our domestic oil and gas companies." He says the unemployment rate in the African-American community stands at 15.4 percent. "Couple th... more »

Oil and natural gas companies have been reporting their second quarter earnings during the past several days. The companies' earnings vary greatly based on their business focus.

In general, firms that have concentrated on upstream projects (exploration and production of energy resources) fared better in the second quarter than companies that have downstream (refining and marketing) operations. Due to the costs associated with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP lost money in the second quarter.

This chart shows that in the first quarter of 2010, oil and natural gas industry earnings averaged 7.3 cents per dollar of sales, as compared to 7.8 cents per dollar for other industries in the Dow Jones Industrials. With 12 oil and natural gas companies reporting second quarter earnings so far, the i... more »

Last week, I read a very interesting and thoughtful blog post by Michael Lynch of MasterResource that discusses the concept of and rhetoric behind "oil addiction."

His post, "One Person's Oil Addict is Another's Intelligent Consumer," challenges the traditional thinking behind the idea that American consumers are addicted to oil. Perhaps Lynch puts it best when he writes:

"...why say Americans are addicted to oil, but not food, housing and clothing? Or cement or steel? It is easy to compare the traditional types of addiction with the reliance on these substances to see where oil falls on the spectrum."

From the time your alarm clock rings in the morning to the time you turn in for the night, oil and natural gas touch your life in ways you may never have imagined. Consumers use it to fu... more »