Salazar
CEA IN THE NEWS: Salazar-oil industry war escalates as Interior announces leasing changes
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Consumer Energy Alliance was in the news on January 6, 2010, in The Hill: “Salazar-oil industry war escalates as Interior announces leasing changes” by Ben German. Read more …
Tags: american resources, domestic energy, oil and gas, oil industry, Salazar, The Hill
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CEA: New Interior Dept. Rules Will Discourage Domestic Energy Production, Deepen Foreign Dependence
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
HOUSTON – January 6, 2010 Earlier today Interior secretary Ken Salazar announced a series of new federal leasing rules that aim to impede, and in some cases deny, the safe and responsible exploration of energy resources on taxpayer-owned lands. Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) president David Holt issued the following statement in response:
“Adding layers of additional and unnecessary bureaucratic red-tape to the federal oil and gas leasing process will result in less homegrown energy for American families, seniors and small businesses. At the same time, erecting these needless roadblocks for safely producing American energy will not only lead to more expensive and less stable prices for struggling consumers, but it will also deepen our nation’s dependence on foreign and often unfriendly regions of the world to meet our growing demands and to keep our economy moving.
“With gas prices once again on the rise – and home heating costs expected to continue to spike throughout this severe winter season – policymakers in Washington should be committing their efforts to help stabilize and drive down energy prices through responsibility developing all of our energy resources – not discouraging domestic production, especially our vast oil shale reserves in the Intermountain-West and offshore, particularly in Alaska’s energy-rich seas.
“Responsibly unlocking our domestic energy reserves will help create thousands of good-paying jobs at a time when they’re most needed. And CEA is eager to work with Secretary Salazar and Congress to help craft commonsense energy policies that promote stable prices for all consumers, create jobs and drive down our nation’s foreign energy dependence through developing all of our resources – including alternatives and renewables – safely and effectively.”
Tags: domestic energy, energy security, foreign dependence, Interior Department, Salazar
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Governor-elect McDonnell to Salazar: Move Forward With VA Energy Leases “Immediately”
Monday, January 4th, 2010
Fredericksburg, Va. – December 29, 2009 How important is offshore energy exploration to the economic future of Virginia? So important that the state’s incoming governor has already written to Interior secretary Ken Salazar asking his agency to move forward on planned lease work “immediately,” indicating the high priority that the development of all available energy resources – wind, tidal, oil and natural gas – will have when Governor-elect Bob McDonnell assumes office next month.
“This letter from the governor-elect puts the state of Virginia squarely on record in support of responsible, commonsense efforts to leverage our homegrown resources into jobs, revenue and energy security for the future,” said Michael Whatley, president of the Virginia-based Southeast Energy Alliance, a regional affiliate of the 250,000-member Consumer Energy Alliance. “More than that, it sends a powerful message to policymakers and Interior officials in Washington – especially as key questions related to the future of offshore development are asked and answered over the coming months. This is a tremendous statement on behalf of the families, farms, factories and businesses in the Old Dominion.”
The McDonnell letter cites a study in which the former president of Old Dominion University found that the production of natural gas alone offshore could help create more than 2,500 jobs, generate more than $640 million in local wages, and net the state $271 million in tax revenue. As it relates to oil, the study found reserves in Virginia’s portion of the outer continental shelf could help fuel all four million cars in the state for four years – on that one, single source alone.
“We strongly applaud Governor-elect McDonnell for his stance on responsible offshore energy development,” said Consumer Energy Alliance president David Holt. “By encouraging Secretary Salazar to move forward with OCS development in Virginia’s adjacent waters, the governor-elect is advancing a tremendous national interest as well. Millions of jobs in manufacturing, airlines, transportation, and agriculture are all directly tied to our ability to effectively utilize our abundant natural gas and oil resources. It’s not just about jobs in the energy sector, it’s about jobs across all sectors of the U.S. economy.”
Earlier this year, Southeast Energy Alliance released a study examining the economic impact that offshore energy development could have on Virginia’s neighbor to the south, North Carolina. In that report, SEA found that responsible exploration efforts could be expected to create 6,700 new jobs, and $484 million in annual revenue for the state. An SEA report with a similar scope was commissioned for South Carolina as well, finding that more than 2,250 new jobs and $45 billion in federal, state, and local government revenues could be generated as a result of safe, responsible exploration.
An electronic version of the letter can be downloaded here.
NOTE: A recent Rasmussen survey finds “that 68% of U.S. voters believe offshore oil drilling should be allowed.”
The Southeast Energy Alliance is a non-partisan organization of businesses, trade associations and non-profit organizations – including Farm Bureaus, Electric Cooperative Associations, Chambers of Commerce and Manufacturing Associations – across the Southeastern United States that understand the importance of the development of sound energy policies to ensure the economic viability of their organization. Utilizing grassroots, grass-tops, public advocacy and education at both the state and federal levels, SEA is dedicated to projects and activities that will ensure access to affordable and reliable energy for families, farms and businesses across the Southeast. SEA is the Southeastern regional affiliate of the Consumer Energy Alliance.
Tags: energy leases, Salazar, SEA, Southeast Energy Alliance, va energy leases, virginia
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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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CEA: More Than 325,000 Americans Tell Secretary Salazar to “Show Us the Energy”
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
Holt: “What we need now, and what these letters demand, is decisive action from this administration.”
WASHINGTON – September 22, 2009 More than 325,000 American people sent letters to Interior secretary Ken Salazar over the past six months urging his agency to expand responsible access to critical energy resources offshore, and Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) helped deliver more than 150,000 of them. As the public comment period on Interior’s Draft Proposed five-year energy plan came to a close this week, CEA president David Holt issued the following statement:
“The unified voices of Americans concerned with rising, unstable and increasingly unaffordable energy costs cannot be ignored. Thanks to the hard work of so many CEA supporters – as well as other organizations committed to advancing policies that help put our nation on a path toward energy security and affordability – Secretary Salazar will have overwhelming public support on his side if his agency and the administration decide to move forward with a commonsense plan that allows the American people to access more of the energy resources they need, demand and rightfully own.
“While the closure of this comment period marks a very early step in what is designed to be a long, deliberative process, the volume and intensity of public response on whether responsible offshore energy exploration should be part of our energy future suggests the status quo energy policies of the past will no longer be an option in the future. What we need now, and what these letters demand, is decisive action from this administration – not an effort to pocket veto these critical offshore energy resources.
“As the process of developing a forward-looking, supply-oriented five-year plan continues to move forward, CEA will remain active in leading the charge for an ‘all of the above’ approach to securing our energy future – a future that includes renewable energy, conventional energy, and a renewed focus on conservation. CEA and its broad-based membership including transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, small business, chemistry, restaurants, retirees and energy providers will continue to provide a platform for the American people to make their views and voices heard in Washington.”
NOTE: Click HERE to view CEA’s official comment letter to MMS.
Tags: 5-Year plan, CEA, Consumer Energy Alliance, drilling, energy, Five Year Plan, gas, Minerals Management Service, MMS, offshore, oil, Salazar
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CEA Responds to Secretary Salazar Announcement on Offshore Energy Plan
Thursday, February 12th, 2009
HOUSTON – February 10, 2009 Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) president David Holt issued the following statement today after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that his agency would extend by several months the current development and comment collection process for implementing a new, supply-oriented, five-year energy plan:
“Having inherited an offshore energy plan from the previous administration, it stands to reason that the new Interior secretary would want to study it in greater depth, improve it where needed, and ensure that as many Americans as possible have the opportunity to make their views known on the imperative of producing more energy here at home.
“Less than a month into the current comment period, tens of thousands of small business owners, consumer groups, and everyday Americans have already visited CEA’s site to register their views on a commonsense approach to developing more of America’s energy resources. Today’s decision allows more time for that process to come together, hopefully improving the chances that serious, robust energy strategy will be embraced by this administration and acted upon in the near future.”
For more information on the Department of Interior’s offshore energy plan, please visit CEA’s Call to Action by clicking here.
Tags: CEA, CEA Energy Grass Roots, Consumer Energy Alliance, consumer energy alliance grass roots, consumer energy alliance grassroots, Department of Interior, five-year energy plan, Interior Secretary, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Interior Secretary Salazar, offshore energy, Salazar
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