Last Thursday approval of the Keystone XL pipeline came up during the House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing.  Here is what Rep. Pelosi had to say, via CSPAN transcript:

THEY WERE INTERVIEWING SOMEBODY FROM THE AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE. AND HE SAID, OH, THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT. TENS OF THOUSANDS OF JOBS. THAT'S NOT TRUE. ENERGY IN OUR COUNTRY, YOU KNOW THIS IS ALL FOR EXPORT. SO WHATEVER YOU THINK ABOUT IT, I KNOW I WANT TO SEE WHAT THE REPORT IS FROM THE STATE DEPARTMENT ON IT AND SEE WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT IT, BUT -- THE OIL IS FOR EXPORT. THERE AREN'T THAT MANY JOBS CONNECTED WITH IT.

BUT PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE, LET'S JUST SEE WHAT THE REPORT IS. AND THAT'S WHAT I HAVE SAID. I WANT TO SEE THE REPORT. WHAT I HEARD ON THE RADIO THIS MORNING WAS, -- WAS SO DI... more »

Highlights from API Chief Economist John Felmy’s opening statement to reporters during a conference call to discuss the export of U.S. liquefied natural gas.

America’s newfound abundance of natural gas resources is a boon to the nation.  It is creating jobs, reducing home heating and electric bills and lowering energy and raw materials costs for businesses. … And the opportunity to do more is before us – to produce more natural gas, spur additional economic activity and create even more jobs – by serving international markets as well as American ones.

Allowing natural gas exports would increase investment in U.S. natural gas development by many billions of dollars annually.  This would lead to new hiring in the natural gas industry and across the economy … This upsurge in development... more »

Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, writes:

"But what’s abundantly clear is that there are no silver bullets when it comes to this challenge. And the idea, as some in Washington have tried to suggest, that building a pipeline is the ultimate answer to the question of American energy security and job creation is nothing more than a pipe dream. The truth is that just two of the Administration’s programs – the DOE Loan Guarantee Program and the EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards – will create more than 10 times the amount of jobs generated by the Keystone XL pipeline, which will only generate a few thousand temporary jobs."

Let’s take them one at a time.

Yes, there are no silver bullets, we need a comprehensive energy policy embraci... more »

The National Journal reports this morning that Senate Republicans and House Democrats "both released comprehensive plans for job creation this week," managing to agree on quite a bit including "incentivizing deployment of natural gas, the fuel attracting the most support from both parties as an alternative to oil." Let's ignore the fact that natural gas is not an alternative to oil - they are used differently, and we will need both for years to come-- and look at the first part, which is, in a word, odd. Odd because House Democrats are renewing their call for higher taxes on domestic energy development this week. And odd because, as Steve Maley explains:

All of the tax provisions that apply to oil also apply to natural gas.; Because 80% or more of domestic drilling activity targets natura... more »

As a rule of thumb it is generally not a good idea to spend a lot of time arguing against the ridiculous. But when the ridiculous is coming from folks who have the power to implement policies which will harm our economic and energy security an exception to the rule is warranted. Such is the case with the notion that oil and natural gas companies don't want to develop oil and natural gas resources.

"The issue "is not a failure of the government to lease lands or to authorize drilling," [Sen. Robert] Menendez said. "It is that millions of acres under lease exist but the industry is not developing them."

Of course a year ago Sen. Menendez let "...the administration know that offshore drilling is a non-starter for me," and earlier in the week we got "The other side of the aisle likes to sa... more »