Consumer Energy Alliance Welcomes New Member Gulf Economic Survival Team
HOUSTON –Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) is pleased to welcome the Gulf Economic Survival Team (GEST) as its newest affiliate member.
The Gulf Economic Survival Team is a grassroots, nonprofit organization founded in June 2010 to push for a swift end to the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling. Since October 2010, when the moratorium was lifted, GEST has served as a facilitator between operators, state government, and the federal government to clarify new exploration and drilling plan and permit requirements, and as an advocate for a heightened permitting pace commensurate with the energy industry’s capacity to invest in the Gulf of Mexico. On August 12, 2011 GEST released a study, “Restarting “the Engine” – Securing American Jobs, Investment and Energy Security,” conducted by well-respected independent research firm IHS-CERA. The study concludes that this nation’s economy and energy security would benefit substantially from a robust return of domestic oil and gas drilling in the Gulf.
“Gulf Economic Survival Team (GEST) is proud to announce our new partnership with CEA. We all recognize that energy is a critical component of America’s economy, and we look forward to joining our voice with theirs in calling for rational energy policy decisions that help restore energy production in the Gulf. Restarting the stalled economic engine of the Gulf of Mexico will help meet America’s urgent needs of job creation, increased tax revenues and higher economic growth—as well as increased energy security,” said GEST Executive Director, Lori LeBlanc.
“Consumer Energy Alliance is pleased to work closely with GEST on energy issues at a regional and national level,” said CEA President David Holt. “Educating producers and consumers on the effect energy policy decisions have on the entire economy is one core goal of CEA. The production slowdown in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the permitting delays in addition to the moratorium has had a ripple effect throughout the entire country and we hope to shed more light on those effects in conjunction with GEST in order to further the discussion on forming a balanced national energy policy. CEA looks forward to working closely with GEST to provide consumers with credible energy information that shows how policy decisions that seem to have a regional focus can more widely affect the entire country.