This in from our friends at the Institute for Energy Research:
Washington, DC – A study conducted by ICF International and released today by the American Petroleum Institute (API) finds that responsibly developing America’s abundant but currently off-limits domestic energy supplies in ANWR and on the outer continental shelf (OCS) would create 160,000 new jobs, generate $1.7 trillion for local, state and federal tax revenue, and provide a major shot in the arm to a flagging national economy. Institute for Energy Research (IER) senior vice president Daniel Kish issued the following statement:
“The trouble with haphazard, ham-handed efforts to shoehorn our industrial economy into a green utopia is that it costs taxpayers billions of dollars and generates a small fraction of the proven power of conventional resources. On the contrary, as the ICF study illustrates, developing America ’s oil and gas resources creates jobs, stimulates the economy, and actually generates massive revenues for the taxpayer all at once. It’s just that simple.”
“Paying more to get less is a fool’s errand on any occasion, but it’s downright dangerous when the United States is suffering through the biggest economic recession in recent history. Given the competition we face from developing countries like China and India, mandating and subsidizing the use of inefficient energy sources in America is like entering a tractor with a five-gallon fuel tank in a NASCAR race. You’re going to lose, you’re guaranteed to be embarrassed, and you’re probably going to create a catastrophe in the process.”
The ICF International study also concludes that development of all U.S. oil and natural gas resources on federal lands could exceed $4 trillion over the life of the resources.
A little more detail on the study from my friends at the American Petroleum Institute:
Some of the study’s key findings are as follows:
Development of resources in moratoria areas and other places currently off limits could lift U.S. crude oil production by as much as 2 million barrels per day in 2030, offsetting nearly a fifth of the nation’s imports.
Natural gas production could increase by 5.34 billion cubic feet per day, or the equivalent of 61 percent of the expected natural gas imports in 2030.
Development of these resources could generate more than $1.7 trillion in government revenue in the form of royalties and taxes.
The revenue number is particularly important because the Obama transition team is looking for funds to stimulate the economy. Perhaps they need to look at America’s oil and natural gas resources and consider the financial benefits of drilling.
The full text of the study is available here.
