Nearly 500 days have past since the President vetoed the first Keystone XL proposal. Thousands of jobs and billions in economic growth have stalled so that federal officials can again study the most-studied pipeline in history.

While federal officials debate politics, the rest of know how much that dithering is costing us.

Consumer Energy Alliance conducted an analysis that shows that the decision to veto the Keystone XL pipeline on Jan 18, 2012 has resulted in more than $2 billion in delayed wages as of June 1, 2013. That’s $2 billion that would have been paid out to construction and pipeline workers dedicated to bringing more than 830,000 barrels of oil a day into the U.S. economy.

Join the fight, and help us tell the President to approve the Keystone XL pipeline and put the heartland back to work!

Consumer Energy Alliance President, David Holt, sits down and answers consumer questions. Lynn L. from Tennessee wants to know, “Why have alternative energy advancements stalled?”

#Gas is $4.69 in #Chicago. What are the #gasprices like in your neck of the woods? Reply with a photo of your own. pic.twitter.com/zfl7NWLVl3

— CEAorg (@CEAorg) June 12, 2013

Consumer Energy Alliance President, David Holt, sits down and answers consumer questions. Andrew from Colorado asked, “With so much drilling happening onshore, do we really need to risk drilling offshore?”

Nationwide polls going back as far as March 2013 show a consistent level of support among the American public for building the Keystone XL pipeline.

Sources: Fox News – Gallup – Pew Research –  Nanos Research – API

ICYMI: Gov. Parnell Highlights OCS Governors Coalition ‘Frustration’ with Offshore Regulation

On Saturday’s weekly GOP address, Gov. Sean Parnell focused his comments on onshore and offshore energy production and its potential to grow the U.S. economy. At minute 4:22 of his address Gov. Parnell discusses his participation in the coastal governors coalition, noting that the eight governors are “frustrated by a lack of [federal regulator] coordination, endless delays and politically motivated inaction by federal agencies.”

The comments come on the heels of a successful CEA-led OCS Governors Coalition event at Houston’s OTC Conference last month.

In announcing a lease sale for Atlantic wind energy, newly minted Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell pledged her department will not “get in the way” if industry wants to move ahead with developing wind farms off Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Monday: “It will really be up to industry to decide the timeframe on which they choose to develop wind-energy resources…Offshore wind has been notoriously slow to move forward in the U.S. even as the sector has advanced in Europe. I can’t promise they will be in production in four years but we certainly don’t want to be a roadblock to them being in production in four years if it makes good economic sense to the community…We’re optimistic with this lease sale that we’ll see some action. But the market will dictate, and we certainly won’t get in the way.”

From DOI: Auction to include 165,000 Acres off Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

According to a report recently released by the Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the North Lease Area has the potential for installed capacity of 1,955 megawatts (MW), and the South Lease Area, 1,440 MW. Together, these areas could support enough electricity to power more than 1 million homes, a significant increase over what BOEM had originally estimated last year. For a map of the Wind Energy Area, click here.

Consumer Energy Alliance President, David Holt, sits down and answers consumer questions. Shawn M. from Houston, Texas said, “With all the new discoveries of oil and gas, will renewable energy have a chance to catch on or expand?