If anyone doubts the current administration's negative impact on U.S. oil and natural gas development, the Western Energy Alliance (WEA) has some news for you: The numbers don't lie.

The WEA recently compiled government data showing trends in oil and natural development on western public lands. The figures are revealing:

• In its western offices, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior, issued 531 leases for oil and natural gas development in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, a 79 percent drop from the 2,499 leases issued in FY2005.

• Since FY2005, BLM has offered 60 percent fewer parcels and 70 percent fewer acres to development.

• Leasing revenue to the federal government fell 46 percent from $189.6 million in FY2005 to $101.6 million in FY2010.

• In th... more »

There's more bad news on the economic front today. The official unemployment rate has climbed to 9.8 percent. An estimated 15 million Americans are out of work this holiday season.

The high unemployment statistics make it even more troubling that the administration has chosen to halt offshore oil and natural gas development in the eastern Gulf, the Atlantic and Pacific for at least the next seven years. As we reported yesterday, opening those areas to development could have created 57,000 high-paying jobs.

The ban on opening new offshore areas to drilling was only one of several news stories and revelations that have raised questions about policy decisions in the past few days:

• Former Vice President Al Gore admitted that he supported ethanol purely for political reasons. "I had a certain... more »

In a new interview, API's President and CEO Jack Gerard told Energy Guardian that the administration is pursuing policies that are at odds with the will of the American public. Pointing to the November election, he said, "Americans sent a very strong message to all of their elected officials that they want the focus to be on three top priorities: That's jobs, jobs, jobs."

Jack explained that the oil and natural gas industry can play an important role in job creation "with the right public policies." He said:

• Congress and the administration should not take legislative or regulatory actions that hinder job creation. He added that "some of the proposals being advanced by the EPA, particularly the greenhouse gas proposals, have created significant uncertainty and will potentially stifle the... more »

Pundits and reporters today are speculating on the election results' impact on proposed environmental regulations, including the future of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) plan to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Starting Jan. 2, new regulations on GHG emissions from stationary sources go into effect, eventually requiring as many as 6.1 million industrial facilities, power plants, hospitals, big box stores and farms, among other establishments, to get permits to operate or expand. It's believed the regulations could delay construction projects, destroy jobs and hamper economic expansion.

The battle over the proposed regulations already is being fought in court, where business groups are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to stay... more »

Are you perplexed by the administration's energy policy? You're not alone. Many observers have noticed a disconnect between the administration's various energy proposals.

As William F. Shughart II points out in an op-ed titled, "The President's Bipolar Energy Policy," the administration included federal guarantees in the proposed 2011 budget for new nuclear power plants, but also it proposes to eliminate funding for the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

Likewise, Shughart says the administration is sending mixed signals on oil and natural gas:

"...for all its talk about energy independence and jobs, the Obama Administration has continued to push drilling initiatives aside. Rather than lease offshore areas in the Atlantic, Pacific and eastern Gulf of Mexico, or in the Inter-Mount... more »