David Holt
Now We’re Talking, Part 1
Monday, March 8th, 2010
By David Holt, President of Consumer Energy Alliance
Higher energy costs lead to higher utility and gasoline prices for consumers. Enacting a national Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) will divert affordable, previously U.S-bound energy supplies from Canada to our competitors, reduce access to critical energy products such as diesel and home heating fuel, and increase prices at the pump – all without doing a thing to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, greenhouse gas emissions will increase as we turn our back on North American sourced oil and begin importing increasing amounts of energy from other continents via long ocean voyages. We won’t use less energy because there is a LCFS; we’ll just obtain it elsewhere.
These conclusions are well documented. Please download the PowerPoint on LCFS presented by one of the top energy policy analysts at the U.S. Department of Energy at a transportation conference last summer – and be sure to take a look at slides 16 and 17. You might also scan an LCFS study published in the American Economic Journal by professors from North Carolina and California. According to their research, an “LCFS cannot be efficient…,” and, “…contrary to the stated purpose, an LCFS can actually raise carbon emissions.”
Since it was founded in early 2006, Consumer Energy Alliance has worked to promote policies that ensure an adequate supply of energy. CEA is not opposed to using cleaner, more environmentally-friendly sources of energy and has embraced a “we need it all approach.” In light of this mission, we were surprised at the recent statement from Natural Recources Defense Council (NRDC) lawyer, Liz Barratt-Brown, who asserted in an environmental advocacy blog that CEA’s opposition to the LCFS must mean that our organization is “against shifting to cleaner fuels”. She alleged that CEA uses “deception” to represent ourselves.
While conducting its research project on CEA, it appears NRDC missed a recent post on our blog hailing the administration’s commitment to energy conservation programs, especially its efforts to promote and sustain a robust plan for home weatherization and re-insulation. NRDC also missed CEA’s press release applauding the mayor of Houston for getting an important solar energy project across the finish line in that great city. And it must have missed CEA’s many public statements in support of wind power where more needs to be done, and done now, to cut through the red tape and bring more of these installations online in parts of the country where wind generated electricity is both needed and efficient.
It’s true that CEA counts producers of conventional energy sources among its coalition, after all we are the Consumer Energy Alliance; a complete listing of our affiliates has always been available online. In her NRDC blog, Ms Barratt-Brown finds it convenient to characterize our organization as an assemblage of “Big Oil” interests. Were her blog even handed, it would note that we represent an even larger number of energy consumers: a full 60 percent of our affiliates are energy consumers. While these consuming groups don’t see eye-to-eye with the producing groups on every issue all of them embrace and support CEA’s broad mission to advance a national energy policy that encourages us to conserve what we have, allows us to safely produce what we need, and invests in the kind of technology we believe will be critical in creating jobs, revenue and opportunity in the future.
It’s a big effort, to be sure, but it is one supported by a larger and more diverse group of interests than NRDC may realize. Among our more than 130 member companies, we’re proud to work with steel manufacturers, plumbing and heating contractors, community and neighborhood organizations, seafood producers, biodiesel producers, fertilizer groups, truckers, airlines, tourism officials, and many, many others. But the backbone of our organization isn’t found there. It’s made up of the more than 265,000 everyday Americans who have signed up over the years to support our cause, men and women who believe in a balanced, sensible energy strategy for this country, and understand the relationship between such a strategy and the creation of jobs, security and affordable energy.
Yes, we disagree with NRDC on some issues. However, there is reason to believe that we agree on a number of other matters. We know that NRDC is not anti-consumer just as we are not anti-environment.
I’m delighted to continue a dialogue in the future, and I’m also hopeful that we can dispense with the personal attacks and schoolyard insults, and get down to the serious business of crafting commonsense energy solutions for the American people.
Tags: American Economic Journal, American energy, balanced energy, CEA, Consumer Energy Alliance, David Holt, greenhouse gas, LCFS, Liz Barratt-Brown, Low-Carbon Fuel Standard, Natural Resources Defense Council, NRDC
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One year later, actions speak louder than words
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
A few weeks ago, when we were basking in a festive holiday spirit, we made a long list of all the things CEA and its supporters had achieved in 2009. But holiday cheer inevitably gives way to the reality of the cold dark winter months, when optimism is replaced by a pressing sense of all the work yet to be done.
This year, mid-January has also brought the anniversary of President Obama’s first year in office, and as the Institute for Energy Research recently concluded, the new policies set over the past 365 days have clearly not supported a strong domestic energy industry.
For instance:
–In 2009, the Interior Department collected only a very small fraction of oil and gas lease sales it had completed in 2008.
–Less than 3% of the available public lands are leased for oil and gas development. Under Obama’s Interior Department fewer acres – both onshore and off – were leased in 2009 than in any previous year.
One story that covered these new findings quoted CEA’s David Holt blaming excessive red tape. “No administration in history has done more to ensure producers do less,” Holt said.
Meanwhile, Thomas Pyle, who heads the Institute for Energy Research, stresses that energy policy cannot be viewed in a vacuum. In this review of Obama’s first year in office, Pyle notes that the President’s efforts to create jobs have suffered from a focus on “unproven technology that is not economically viable.” Such investments have created only a small number of jobs, compared to what could be created by loosening the restrictions on oil and gas exploration and production, he said.
Just how many jobs can a strong domestic energy industry support? As American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard outlined in a recent speech, the U.S. oil industry directly supports 9.2 million American jobs and created millions of new jobs over the past decade.
As Obama enters his second year with unemployment higher than it has been in a generation and growing cries for aggressive job creation efforts, let’s hope that his administration starts to see the devastating economic impact of its energy policy and works to help ensure that Americans can have both jobs and affordable energy.
Tags: Barack Obama, David Holt, domestict energy, Institute for Energy Research, Interior Department, Jack Gerard, oil & gas, oil and gas, oil leases, public lands, Thomas Pyle
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CEA: New Study Reinforces Need to Responsibly Develop Domestic Energy Offshore
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
Consumer group calls untapped domestic oil and gas resources “a game-changer” for the economy
HOUSTON – November 19, 2009 This week, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) released a comprehensive, independent, long-term analysis of U.S. energy policy. The study, sponsored in part by the non-profit Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) and conducted jointly by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and Gas Technology Institute (GTI), finds that if status quo energy policies are maintained – namely a federal moratorium on responsible, 21st century offshore energy development – U.S. dependence on OPEC nations will increase, more American jobs will be moved overseas and overall expenses will rise for American consumers.
In 2007, NARUC adopted a resolution to initiate an independent analysis of the social, economic and environmental effects associated with keeping the outer continental shelf (OCS) off-limits for oil and gas exploration. While congressional and presidential moratoria were lifted last year following record oil prices, a de facto ban remains intact as a result of inaction from the U.S. Department of Interior.
David Holt, president of CEA, released this statement today:
“A clear and growing majority of American consumers continue to favor policies, including responsible offshore energy exploration, that would help drive down and stabilize energy prices across the board. And this study should serve as a wake-up call for elected officials in Washington to act boldly and move forward to develop comprehensive energy policies that will spur economic development, create jobs and get the nation moving again. Developing domestic energy resources offshore – oil, gas, wind, tidal – safely and responsibly must be a national priority.
“And at the same time, we must continue to make key investments into alternative resources and commonsense conservation efforts. Because for every barrel of oil and every trillion cubic feet of natural gas that we produce here at home, by blue collar American labor, American consumers are less energy-dependant on other nations.
“This study paints a clear and equally frightening picture of the dangerous consequences of the federal government keeping so much of our job-creating energy off-limits. With unemployment at a 26-year high, and families, seniors and small businesses fighting to makes ends meet, opening our outer continental shelf for environmentally-sound energy production could be the game-changer our weakened economy desperately needs.”
Here are key highlights from the independent study, which can be viewed on-line by clicking HERE:
- Cumulative domestic oil and natural gas production decreases by 21% and 10%, respectively.
- Average natural gas price increases by 28% and average gasoline price increases by 8.4%.
- Cumulative national real disposable income decreases by $1.163 Trillion ($4,000 per capita).
- Cumulative oil imports from OPEC countries increase by 4.1 billion barrels.
- Cumulative national payments to OPEC countries increase by $607 billion.
Tags: CEA, Consumer Energy Alliance, David Holt, domestic energy, NARUC, national association of regulatory utility commissioners, Oceans policy, offshore energy
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CEA October 2009 Newsletter
Friday, September 25th, 2009
CEA Newsletter
Issue 31
Message from CEA President David Holt
September 21st marked the close of a nationwide public comment period by the Federal Government that allowed Americans to have their voices heard in the vital debate regarding development of U.S. offshore resources, including oil, natural gas and wind projects.
Though naysayers have received prominent placement in recent media reports, the real winners here are the overwhelming numbers of Americans who stood tall in favor of reasonable and responsible development of America’s offshore areas.
More than 360,000 positive comments were received by the government supporting a new 5-Year Plan for the development of resources off of America’s coastlines. This number, which accounts for more than 60 percent of the total comments received, sends a strong message to elected officials in Washington: Americans want more American energy.
Throughout the comment period, CEA stood strong in our support of offshore oil & gas drilling, as well as offshore alternative energy development. Working with our valued affiliates and individual consumers like you, CEA implemented a major campaign to get the word out about the importance of this effort and encourage Americans to comment and contribute to the discussion.
The tremendous results in favor of offshore development speak volumes. Washington has heard what you have to say. Your voice has made a difference in shaping American energy policy and will assist in leading the United States on a path of domestic energy development that will be good for the economy, Americans and the country.
CEA recognizes your hard work and we thank you for being part of our efforts to empower America! We consider you an essential part of our alliance and look forward to continuing to work with you to do what’s right for America and its citizens.
Yet, the work is not over. As we move forward from this great victory, CEA remains dedicated to working toward a national energy policy that fully leverages America’s abundant energy resources into new jobs, revenue and security for American energy consumers.
As part of this effort, please take part in our nationwide educational campaign – Secure Our Fuels, which highlights the damaging economic effects associated with the national Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) currently being considered by Congress. For more information on the Secure Our Fuels campaign, click here.
Again, thank you and congratulations! With your help, the tides are turning.
David Holt
President
Help Defeat Efforts to Ban North American Energy and Increase Prices at the Pump!
The Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) is being sold to the American public as a way to blend transportation fuels with low-carbon alternatives so that tailpipe CO2 emissions can be reduced. But the fact is that affordable and reliable lower-carbon fuel options are not yet available. As a result, an LCFS simply will increase the cost of diesel fuel and gasoline and will place certain domestic supplies of transportation fuels off limits. Increasing the cost of transportation fuel and U.S. dependence upon foreign sources of petroleum is simply unsound energy policy.
Join our effort to defeat these measures, which would put an economic stranglehold on America and leave U.S. consumers stuck with higher prices at the pump. Send in your comments today!
Support Development of Alaska’s Offshore Oil & Gas Resources!
At a time when the American public is crying out for more domestic energy, Alaska has enormous untapped oil and gas potential, especially in its offshore areas. The waters off Alaska’s coasts hold about 27 billion barrels of oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to federal government estimates.
To begin producing energy from these resource basins, the federal government must take action. Join us in our effort as we build public support for offshore minerals exploration and development in Alaska. Send in your comments today!
CEA Welcomes New Affiliate Members
CEA is proud to announce the addition of the many new affiliate members who have joined our alliance in recent months: Amway, Applied Fiber Manufacturing, LLC, EarthQuest Institute, Entergy Arkansas, Entergy Mississippi, The Fertilizer Institute, New England Fuel Institute and Santa Barbara County Energy Coalition. For a complete list of CEA’s valued affiliates, click here.
CEA Blog: Silent majorities and dressing for success
Check out CEA’s recent blog entry about the overwhelming amount of public support for developing America’s offshore energy resources, recently brought to light by the federal government’s collection of public comments on the issue. Join the conversation at CEA’s website. Read blog…
Consumer Corner: Tell Us How Energy Affects YOU!
Energy issues are important to all Americans – and they should be – because they affect all aspects of everyday life, including your businesses, your household costs and your free-time expenditures!
When you drive your kids to school in the morning or board an airplane for a vacation flight, you are affected by the energy policies that government officials in Washington put in place. Access to American energy resources affects your weekly grocery bill, how much you pay at the gas pump, your heating and cooling costs, the business decisions you make – every part of your life!
CEA wants to know your thoughts about how energy affects you. Share your energy story with CEA by sending an e-mail to info@consumerenergyalliance.org. We want to hear from YOU!
Wind Energy Could Cut Emissions in China By 30 Percent, Study Asserts
Switching to wind power for electricity needs could cut China’s emissions by 30 percent over the next 20 years, according to a recent study. Read article…
Venezuela and Russia Develop As “Comrades-In-Arms-And-Oil”
Ties between Russia and Venezuela are steadily growing stronger with increased economic development schemes, including energy and weaponry deals, between the two countries. Read article…
Affiliate Spotlight: Agriculture Energy Alliance
As farmers and agribusinesses face a looming crisis because of public policies that create demand for natural gas while restricting access to supply sources, the Agriculture Energy Alliance, which represents more than 100 growers and agriculture-related business, works to inform and educate Congress, the Administration and state-elected officials about the energy challenges facing the agricultural sector.
“The U.S. farm sector is being weakened by constraints on onshore and offshore natural gas development, even as global demand for food is growing every year,” says Coordinator for the Agriculture Energy Alliance Rosemary O’Brien, who also serves as Vice President of Public Affairs at CF Industries.
To address these concerns, AEA encourages elected and appointed officials to continue the good work begun in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and take further measures to reduce natural gas demand and increase natural gas supply.
“By increasing domestic natural gas production, we increase our food security,” explains O’Brien.
Ensuring the stable development of American natural gas resources is essential to maintaining a successful agricultural economy, according to O’Brien, because the farm sector depends on significant use of natural gas for food processing, irrigation, crop drying, heating farm buildings and homes, crop protection chemicals and nitrogen fertilizer production.
“With wise development and utilization of our own national energy resources, Congress can help ensure that farming remains an economically viable occupation,” she emphasizes.
As a member of Consumer Energy Alliance, AEA’s goal is to join with other like-minded groups to work on energy policy, specifically access to U.S. offshore production.
“CEA presented opportunities to work with a larger coalition and to enhance our policy goals in a very positive way,” O’Brien notes. “We have been excited to work with CEA since their leadership has shown creativity, enthusiasm and focus on complex energy policy issues.
“CEA is the type of group AEA likes to associate itself with as perseverance and working on shared goals is the only way to accomplish results. In short, CEA is solution-oriented. We work well with CEA, and we appreciate the quality of advice and input we receive from them and their collaborative efforts on behalf of their coalition.”
For more information on the Agriculture Energy Alliance, visit www.agenergyalliance.com.
Affiliate News: National Oilheat Summit Sees Bright Future For Industry
NEFI joined nearly every national, regional and state oilheat industry association, along with various industry leaders, for a national oilheat industry policy summit in Baltimore, MD on Tuesday, September 15th. The big news coming out of the summit – these various oilheat stakeholders are joining together to pursue a brave new future for the industry and its consumers.
Those attending the summit overwhelmingly approved a statement encouraging Congress and appropriate state bodies to help the industry move towards a “leaner, greener and cleaner” new product through adoption of an ultra low sulfur standard and expanded use of bio components. The group also embraced solar technology as a key component of the overall industry effort to lower the carbon intensity of heating oil applications.
The summit also heard many presentations on the benefits of pursuing a lower sulfur bio-blended product, supplemented with solar technology, as well as how best to “tell the story” nationwide. “It is an exciting time for the industry,” said Peter Carini (NEFI-member) of Champion Energy, New York, which was echoed by Robert Boltz of Pennsylvania, NEFI member Jim Townsend of Townsend Oil, and Don Allen of E.T. Lawson of Virginia, the moderator for the summit. He added: “As an industry, we face many challenges, but most of them can be met if we embrace this exciting opportunity to create a new product that will be environmentally responsible and competitive, ensuring that our industry is part of the solution to the energy, security and climate change challenges that face our Nation.”
Over 80 industry representatives participated in the Summit.
Affiliate News: NSBA Report Shows On-Bill Financing Improves Energy Efficiency
On September 16, 2009, the National Small Business Association released a report showing that small business collectively could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 259 million tons each year if they improved their energy efficiency by just 25 percent. The report, “On-Bill Financing: Helping Small Business Reduce Emissions and Energy Use While Improving Profitability,” goes on to highlight the significant savings small businesses stand to achieve through on-bill financing.
“This report obliterates that old paradigm that environmental conservation is anathema to economic growth,” said NSBA President Todd McCracken. “Quite simply, small businesses can increase their profitability while reducing their carbon footprint.”
On-bill financing is a mechanism that enables small businesses to work with their utility company to improve their energy efficiency. In practice, a local utility company identifies a small business with potential savings and evaluates their energy use and the company’s financial stability. The utility company then extends a low- or no-interest loan to the small business to make energy-efficient upgrades. The small-business owner repays the loan by continuing to pay the average monthly bill and any money paid in excess of what their actual costs are will go directly to pay down the loan.
Currently implemented in several states, on-bill financing programs have made thousands of loans to small businesses with unparalleled success. According to the report, energy-efficiency programs such as on-bill financing can help the average small business save $4,932—and oftentimes more—every year on its energy bills. The report also makes recommendations on how the federal government can help facilitate additional on-bill financing programs.
“The number one reason small-business owners cite for their inability to make their firms more energy efficient is cash-flow,” stated Keith Ashmus, NSBA chair and co-founding partner at Frantz Ward LLP, Cleveland, Ohio. “Programs such as on-bill financing can eliminate this very significant barrier many small businesses simply can’t overcome.”
NSBA has long held the belief that energy efficiency and entrepreneurial growth can and do go hand-in-hand. The current state of the U.S. economy makes it absolutely crucial to have government policies that foster, not hinder, entrepreneurial growth. With 29.6 million small firms—comprising 99.7 percent of all U.S. employer firms—small businesses stand to make significant, positive and lasting improvements to both the economy and the environment.
This report was sponsored by NSBA with funding from the Bipartisan Policy Center. Please click here to access the full report.
Since 1937, NSBA has advocated on behalf of America’s entrepreneurs. A staunchly nonpartisan organization, NSBA reaches more than 150,000 small businesses nationwide and is proud to be the nation’s first small-business advocacy organization. For more information, please visit www.nsba.biz
Tags: 5-Year plan, Agriculture Energy Alliance, American energy, CEA, CEA Monthly, CEABlog, Consumer Energy Alliance, David Holt, energy, gasoline, Minerals Management Service, MMS, natural gas, newsletter, ocs, October 2009, offshore, oil, Outer Continental Shelf, resource development, Russia, Venezuela, wind
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CEA Urges Senate to Adopt Commonsense Offshore Energy Exploration Provision
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
Amendment would streamline domestic energy development, help stabilize costs for American consumers
WASHINGTON – September 22, 2009 As the US Senate considers an appropriations measure setting aside funds for the US Department of the Interior, Sens. David Vitter (La.), Jim DeMint (S.C.) and John Barrasso (Wyo.) are working to include an amendment in the bill that would streamline and advance energy development along our nation’s outer continental shelf (OCS). Consumer Energy Alliance, which has played a leading role in generating over 150,000 of the more than 350,000 favorable public comments to Secretary Ken Salazar in support of expanded offshore energy production, has urged the Senate to adopt this commonsense provision that would increase domestic energy production, helping to drive down and stabilize prices for American consumers.
CEA president David Holt issued the following statement:
“Our energy security, the price American consumers pay at the pump, and the much-needed jobs and revenues created through environmentally-sound, 21st century offshore energy development must be addressed head-on. This commonsense amendment helps do that, and it deserves strong bipartisan support in the US Senate.
“This amendment, coupled with the overwhelming support that the American people delivered to the Interior Department for expanded offshore energy production yesterday as the 5-year comment period came to an end, should continue to send a strong message to the policymakers that decisive action is needed to help meet our growing energy needs, put Americans back to work, raise revenues for the local, state and federal governments and help get the US economy rolling again.”
CEA has participated in over 100 events over past three months focused on responsibly increasing American energy production, while ensuring environmental safeguards. Early indications suggest that favorable comments to the Interior Department handily surpass those in opposition to American energy production, which would be in line with virtually all public opinion polling.
Over the past several years, public comments to the Interior Department have overwhelmingly favored increased offshore energy production. During the 2006 period, 72 percent of comments received during four separate comment periods favored increased energy production offshore. In 2008, 53 percent backed domestic OCS energy exploration. And, early indications from yesterday’s close of the public comment period, favorable comments will once again lead groups who are opposed to sensible offshore development by a sizeable margin. American consumers once again voiced clear support for increased energy production.
Tags: amendment, American energy, Barrasso, CEA, Consumer Energy Alliance, David Holt, DeMint, domestic, drilling, energy, gas, ocs, offshore, oil, outercontinental shelf, Salazar, senate, US Department of the Interior, Vitter
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CEA Praises Bipartisan, Bicameral Congressional Efforts on Expanding Domestic Offshore Energy Production
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
WASHINGTON – September 21, 2009 Following a letter from nearly 100 House Republicans, led by Reps. Doc Hastings (R-WA), Rob Bishop (R-UT), and Tom Price (R-GA), urging Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to move forward with a 5-Year offshore energy production plan that would expand safe American energy exploration, Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK), along with 15 other House Democrats, wrote the secretary recommending that his agency open the outer continental shelf (OCS) for responsible offshore energy development. Today, a bipartisan group of senators, led by Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), penned a similar letter to Secretary Salazar.
David Holt, president of Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), a non-profit, non-partisan organization that advocates an “all of the above” approach to securing, reliable energy, issued this statement:
“Thanks to many of CEA’s thousands of grassroots supporters and a clear majority of the American public, a year ago, the federal government made positive, and long overdue, steps toward balancing the nation’s long-term energy policy through lifting decade-old bans on safe and effective offshore energy production here at home.
“CEA praises the strong bipartisan, bicameral commitment from the congressmen and senators who have taken the concerns of their constituents about affordable energy and access to American resources directly to Secretary Salazar. The groundswell of support for increased domestic energy production continues to grow, and, as an organization, we’re grateful for the steadfastness on this issues that so many members of Congress and senators continue to demonstrate.
“As the Interior Department’s public comment period on the 5-year OCS plan came to a close today, we are hopeful and encouraged that these congressional letters, as well as the hundreds of thousands of supportive comments from every day Americans, will resonate with Secretary Salazar as he and his agency move forward in crafting a blueprint for our offshore energy production goals over the next several years.
“Thousands of good-paying jobs, stable energy prices for small businesses, working-families and retirees and less dependence on unstable regions of the world to fuel our economy will result from the developing domestic oil and gas, and renewable energy offshore. At the same time, we must focus on harnessing more wind, solar, coal, hydro, nuclear, biofuels and other alternatives and renewable energy forms, while using what we have more wisely, too.”
Tags: 5-Year, American energy, bipartisan, Bishop, CEA, Consumer Energy Alliance, David Holt, domestic energy, Dorgan, drilling, energy, Five Year Plan, gas, Hastings, house, Hutchison, Minerals Management Service, MMS, offshore, oil, republicans, Salazar
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A “well-presented and logical” attack on popular environmentalism
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
It’s very hard to take on so-called environmentalists in a serious public debate, but in a guest post published on the Houston Chronicle’s Texas on the Potomac blog, CEA President David Holt outlines why true environmentalism goes beyond protecting your own back yard.
In explaining why environmentalism and offshore drilling are more compatible than many people think, Holt calls the opposition to domestic drilling “one of the most naïve and potentially harmful” forms of environmentalism.
“Serious environmentalists,” Holt writes, “understand that you can’t protect the environment by building a fence around your own backyard.” Because so many anti-oil interests seem to be most interested in not seeing the oil we all consume, Holt says, we are not only a country that is addicted to foreign oil, but one that is strangely indifferent to that addiction.
CEA is always gratified when it is able to spread its message about responsible energy production and diversification. With Holt’s blog, we are happy to see that many people out there seem to agree with our message. Click here to read the full post, along with some comments praising Holt’s logic and rational presentation.
Tags: CEA, Consumer Energy Alliance, David Holt, environmentalists, houston chronicle, texas on the potomac
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CEA Praises House Panel’s Efforts to Address Offshore Energy Production as Part of Balanced Strategy
Thursday, September 10th, 2009
WASHINGTON – September 9, 2009 Earlier today, the U.S. House Natural Resources panel with primary jurisdiction over federal offshore energy policy met to discuss pending bipartisan legislation that aims to increase domestic offshore energy exploration and production. David Holt, president of Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), a non-profit, non-partisan organization that advocates an “all of the above” approach to securing, reliable energy, issued this statement:
“Today’s hearing focusing on strong bipartisan legislation that aims to ease decades-old restrictions on American energy production offshore was particularly timely. In less than two weeks, the Interior Department’s public comment period regarding the upcoming 5-year outer continental shelf (OCS) plan will close, and the fate of domestic energy production for the next several years, and possibly well beyond that, will in part be determined.
“American consumers are facing difficult economic times right now – and many are being forced to make choices that no one should have to make. At minimum, they should be able to depend on their government for access to the energy resources they own – energy that, if harnessed, could create millions of new jobs, billions in local revenue, and the prospect of long-term energy affordability.
“Of course, offshore energy development is only one leg of our energy policy stool – but it’s an important one if we have any expectation of making our way back to prosperity. Along with it, we must work to increase the availability of energy in all forms – wind, solar, oil, natural gas, biofuels, nuclear – and use what we have more wisely at the same time.
“The dialogue during today’s hearing generally echoed this approach. CEA is optimistic that Secretary Salazar takes today’s hearing into mind, as well as the overwhelming support of the American people for increased offshore energy production, as his department prepares to release its new 5-year plan.”
For more information, visit www.consumerenergyalliance.org.
Tags: CEA, Consumer Energy Alliance, David Holt, energy production, gas, natural resources, offshore, oil
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