(CNSNews.com) – To better ensure America’s energy security and help stimulate long-term job and economic growth, the Institute for Energy Research (IER) has released a detailed plan that would limit, it says, “overly burdensome regulations and legislation that prevent Americans from producing homegrown energy,” and “help create millions of jobs” by expanding development of “our nation’s vast energy resources.”
The American Energy Act of 2011 would, according to the IER, allow U.S. companies to tap into and benefit from all of America’s energy resources while also encouraging entrepreneurs to help create more jobs in an integrated economy.
“America cannot reach her potential for energy production without utilizing the massive energy resources on Federal lands and water,” states a summary of the Act, which was published in late April. “The Act recognizes that the Department of Interior must provide greater access to those Federal resources. The new programs and procedures created by the Act will promote enhanced development of domestic sources of energy on federal areas, as well as state and private lands. This will increase the domestic production of all sources of energy, produce millions of America jobs, and create billions of dollars in economic activity.”
Thomas Pyle, president of IER, told CNSNews.com: “The legislation would, across the board, work to reduce the government’s burden -- the ability for organizations and outside groups to stymie and stall needlessly and unnecessarily energy production.”
“It’s a comprehensive analysis across the board that does not create winners and losers,” he said. “There are no subsidies involved.”
The act is also expected to lower the price of energy because of increased production, which stimulates consumption and, as a result, generate revenue in taxes to both federal and State governments.
Much of the resistance to lifting the “permitorium” -- the denial of permits to oil companies -- was “warranted” due to the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, said the IER in a statement.
However, while there are still questions that need to be answered, Pyle said that, by a large measure, the visible signs of the spill have been “largely contained” and the Gulf region is “very much on a path to complete restoration.”
A December report by the U.S. Coast Guard, responsible for overseeing the clean-up in the Gulf, concluded that the deep water and offshore areas are recovering and the remaining effects of the spill are marginal.
The oil industry has put at least $1 billion into the Marine Well Containment Company, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to spill containment, and even has technologies that can process oil out in the water, said the IER President.
Pyle maintained that he was very confident that improvements in oil containment technology and offshore drilling itself are “very safe.”
“We’ve drilled thousands and thousands of wells in the Gulf, both in the shallow water and the deep water more recently, and we have had a very few incidents, few if any up until this spill” Pyle said.
According to Pyle, the BP spill in the Gulf was “an anomaly” and that the last major oil spill we had on an oil rig was in Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1969. In contrast to tankers, oil rigs are less risky and less susceptible to oil spills.
“If we stop producing oil in this country, we will increase our tanker traffic, and by increasing our tanker traffic we actually increase the risk of oil spills” said Pyle.
As CNSNews.com reported in March, at least 13,000 jobs in the Gulf region have been lost due to the moratorium on deep water drilling in the Gulf, according to estimates made by Joseph Mason, author of The Economic Cost of a Moratorium on Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration to the Gulf Region.
According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the total proved reserves and technically recoverable amount of oil in the United States, as of 2009, was 164.6 billion barrels. The United States consumes about 6.8 billion barrels of oil each year (of which about 60 percent is imported).
As for natural gas in the United States, the CRS report, using data from the federal Energy Information Administration, shows there are 1,407.4 trillion cubic feet – America consumes 22.74 cubic feet of natural gas per year.
As for coal, the report shows that the United States has a technically recoverable amount of 261 billion short tons; the country consumes about 1 billion short tons per year.
Those numbers do not include new deposits of fossil fuels that may be found in the future and as technology advances. Nor do the numbers include the estimated worldwide reserves from selected nations (Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Venezuela), which total 1.3 trillion barrels of oil; 6.6. trillion cubic feet of natural gas; and 930 billion short tons of coal, according to the CRS report.
When those fuels are converted into one source of measurement, such as barrels of oil, says the CRS, then worldwide reserves from those six nations equal 5.7 trillion barrels of oil.
On a related note, potentially recoverable reserves of oil from shale – an expensive and currently cost-prohibitive operation – are estimated to be between 800 billion and 1.38 trillion barrels in the United States alone, according to the CRS report.
Source: http://cnsnews.com
The American Energy Act of 2011 would, according to the IER, allow U.S. companies to tap into and benefit from all of America’s energy resources while also encouraging entrepreneurs to help create more jobs in an integrated economy.
“America cannot reach her potential for energy production without utilizing the massive energy resources on Federal lands and water,” states a summary of the Act, which was published in late April. “The Act recognizes that the Department of Interior must provide greater access to those Federal resources. The new programs and procedures created by the Act will promote enhanced development of domestic sources of energy on federal areas, as well as state and private lands. This will increase the domestic production of all sources of energy, produce millions of America jobs, and create billions of dollars in economic activity.”
Thomas Pyle, president of IER, told CNSNews.com: “The legislation would, across the board, work to reduce the government’s burden -- the ability for organizations and outside groups to stymie and stall needlessly and unnecessarily energy production.”
“It’s a comprehensive analysis across the board that does not create winners and losers,” he said. “There are no subsidies involved.”
The act is also expected to lower the price of energy because of increased production, which stimulates consumption and, as a result, generate revenue in taxes to both federal and State governments.
Much of the resistance to lifting the “permitorium” -- the denial of permits to oil companies -- was “warranted” due to the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, said the IER in a statement.
However, while there are still questions that need to be answered, Pyle said that, by a large measure, the visible signs of the spill have been “largely contained” and the Gulf region is “very much on a path to complete restoration.”
A December report by the U.S. Coast Guard, responsible for overseeing the clean-up in the Gulf, concluded that the deep water and offshore areas are recovering and the remaining effects of the spill are marginal.
The oil industry has put at least $1 billion into the Marine Well Containment Company, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to spill containment, and even has technologies that can process oil out in the water, said the IER President.
Pyle maintained that he was very confident that improvements in oil containment technology and offshore drilling itself are “very safe.”
“We’ve drilled thousands and thousands of wells in the Gulf, both in the shallow water and the deep water more recently, and we have had a very few incidents, few if any up until this spill” Pyle said.
According to Pyle, the BP spill in the Gulf was “an anomaly” and that the last major oil spill we had on an oil rig was in Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1969. In contrast to tankers, oil rigs are less risky and less susceptible to oil spills.
“If we stop producing oil in this country, we will increase our tanker traffic, and by increasing our tanker traffic we actually increase the risk of oil spills” said Pyle.
As CNSNews.com reported in March, at least 13,000 jobs in the Gulf region have been lost due to the moratorium on deep water drilling in the Gulf, according to estimates made by Joseph Mason, author of The Economic Cost of a Moratorium on Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration to the Gulf Region.
According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the total proved reserves and technically recoverable amount of oil in the United States, as of 2009, was 164.6 billion barrels. The United States consumes about 6.8 billion barrels of oil each year (of which about 60 percent is imported).
As for natural gas in the United States, the CRS report, using data from the federal Energy Information Administration, shows there are 1,407.4 trillion cubic feet – America consumes 22.74 cubic feet of natural gas per year.
As for coal, the report shows that the United States has a technically recoverable amount of 261 billion short tons; the country consumes about 1 billion short tons per year.
Those numbers do not include new deposits of fossil fuels that may be found in the future and as technology advances. Nor do the numbers include the estimated worldwide reserves from selected nations (Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Venezuela), which total 1.3 trillion barrels of oil; 6.6. trillion cubic feet of natural gas; and 930 billion short tons of coal, according to the CRS report.
When those fuels are converted into one source of measurement, such as barrels of oil, says the CRS, then worldwide reserves from those six nations equal 5.7 trillion barrels of oil.
On a related note, potentially recoverable reserves of oil from shale – an expensive and currently cost-prohibitive operation – are estimated to be between 800 billion and 1.38 trillion barrels in the United States alone, according to the CRS report.
Source: http://cnsnews.com
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