This morning Senator Vitter (R-LA) and Congressman Bishop (R-UT) will introduce the Energy Production and Project Delivery Act of 2013. This legislation focuses on increased access to resources on federal lands and streamlining the regulatory process. The NAM supports this legislation and applauds its objectives. Manufacturers, which use one -third of our nation’s energy, need access to competitively priced energy in order for us to compete in the global economy and preserves high paying jobs in the United States.

Increasing access to domestic sources of reliable energy, both onshore and offshore, is essential to the long-term health of American manufacturing. For the first time in decades we have an advantage in energy costs and it is vital that we maintain that advantage if we are to remain competitive. While investments in new energy sources and efforts to boost efficiency gains play critical roles in meeting our nation’s future energy demands we cannot ignore the vital need to develop and utilize our domestic sources of energy.

Further, we can ill afford to place critical resources off limits and it is important that we open up additional areas in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR). This would allow for greater exploration and responsible development of promising areas offshore and in the Arctic – all of which could substantially lower our nation’s energy vulnerability with minimal environmental impact. A study by Wood Mackenzie Energy Consulting concludes that policies encouraging domestic oil/gas exploration could add 1.1 million jobs by 2020 and 4 million barrels’ of oil and natural gas per day.

The revenue sharing provisions in this legislation will provide the offshore producing states would provide states with an additional $3 billion a year in revenues. All of this paid for by increased production and additional leases.

Regulatory streamlining continues to be a top priority for manufacturers. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is in desperate need of streamlining as it environmental and judicial review process can take years to complete. There are hundreds of projects from pipelines to power plants to manufacturing facilities that are being held up by an overly burdensome federal regulatory process. For example, this legislation would require EPA to do a complete economic analysis of the impact of regulations on employment under the Clean Air Act. It also would expedite the permitting of the Keystone XL Pipeline which has been under regulatory review since 2008.

We hope that the Senate will seriously consider this legislation and begin the legislative process quickly. Manufacturers are a vital part of our nation’s economy and affordable domestic energy supplies are vital to manufactures.

Chip Yost is assistant vice president of energy and resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly, 422-0, in favor of a bi-partisan piece of legislation, H.R. 267, would streamline the process for approving certain hydroelectric development and thus allow the use of smaller hydro projects and conduit hydro projects.  The legislation also directs Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct a study on pumped storage project opportunities and to study potential hydropower from existing conduits.

There are two things that strike me about this legislation. First, it appears sensible and straight forward. It has a goal of increasing electricity generated from a renewable source. Second, it is a bi-partisan piece of legislation with members like Reps Rogers, Terry, Walden and Latta supporting it from one side of the isle and Reps. DeGette, Dingell, Markey, Matheson and Lujan on the other side. This is exactly the kind of legislating that we should be doing more of where we find areas that we can agree and we then go out and get it done!

The NAM supports the streamlining of the regulatory process for hydroelectric power development through the elimination of redundant or contradictory regulatory steps and avoiding the imposition of conflicting clauses in other legislative initiatives.

The NAM embraces an “all of the above” energy strategy and hydroelectric power certainly fall into that category. Hydropower is a renewable resource that is clean, efficient and is responsible for more of the Nation’s renewable energy supply than any other source of renewable energy. Hydro provides 67% of the domestic renewable energy and 7% of the total electricity generation. As we streamline the regulatory process and build more hydroelectricity capacity there are job opportunities. (continue reading…)

Natural gas from shale formations continues to have a positive impact on the economy and provide manufacturers with an affordable and reliable supply of energy.  Shale gas continues to influence manufacturers’ decisions to expand operations in the United States.

For example, on November 1st, CF Industries announced the expansion of their manufacturing facilities in Donaldsonville, Louisiana and Port Neal, Iowa.  CF Industries is a global leader in the manufacturing and distribution of nitrogen and phosphate products, serving both agricultural and industrial customers. They plan to spend $3.8 billion on two projects which will create hundreds of new jobs to both states. 

CF Industries will invest $2.1 billion at their Donaldsonville facility, which is expected to create 93 direct jobs and approximately 700 indirect jobs.  They will invest another $1.7 billion at the Port Neal facility, which is estimated to create 100 direct jobs and approximately 700 indirect jobs. The direct jobs will be at an average starting annual salary of $55,000, increasing to $85,000 per year when employees become fully certified. The company expects that as many as 3,400 construction jobs will be filled as these projects progress. These projects will create about 200 direct jobs, 1,400 indirect jobs and thousands of construction jobs. (continue reading…)

On Thursday, September 13th the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Energy and Power will hold a hearing on “The American Energy Initiative.” This hearing is the latest part of an ongoing initiative focused on critical energy issues in North America.

Thursday’s hearing will focus on the potential for achieving North American energy independence within the decade. Recent technological advances have made it cheaper and easier than ever to access our continent’s wide range of energy sources, enhancing our energy security. These technological advances are changing the way we look at energy.

There is no question anymore that we have plenty of energy within our borders. The issue is whether policies will enable us to actually use it. As Mark P. Mills from the Manhattan Institute has written: “The main obstacles to developing a North American oil surplus are political rather than geological or technological.”

Interestingly enough, the increase in production of oil and natural gas has for the most part taken place on private lands and not on federal lands. In fact, production on federal lands has dropped significantly: according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), 96 percent of the increase in domestic oil supplies since 2007 has come from production on non-federal lands. As Mills has pointed out, this is due mainly to the political landscape and not geological formations. (continue reading…)

Earlier this week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized eight Toyota manufacturing sites for achieving a 10% reduction in energy intensity through the ENERGY STAR Challenge. The energy efficiency of these eight sites collectively reduced energy intensity by almost 24 percent from baseline.

The Energy Star program recognizes industry sites of companies that show leadership in energy efficiency and management. Toyota continues to identify new opportunities to reduce energy consumption and has received 18 Energy Star Plant Awards from the EPA since 2006.

Manufacturers have proven time and again that they are always looking for ways to make their operation more energy efficient, sustainable and their products more competitive in the world market place. Rather than continuing to burden businesses with additional regulations, Washington needs to listen to manufacturers and let them lead in this area of energy efficiency and sustainability. Manufacturers will continue to implement measures that make sense for their operations, businesses and will continue to reduce the resources they use.

Chip Yost is assistant vice president, energy & resources policy

Today the Republican House Leadership introduced “The Domestic Energy and Jobs Act” which is a package of seven bills that have previously been introduced.  This legislation is aimed to provide our country with an energy policy, something which has been missing the past few years.

This package of bills furthers the dual goals of creating jobs while increasing access to domestic energy supplies.  The Domestic Energy and Jobs Act: provides important safeguards against overuse of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, requires a full review of costs and benefits of regulations that impact gasoline prices and provides a much needed regulatory pause until a study is complete, and requires the federal government to adopt a truly “all of the above” energy strategy as oppose to the current “some of the above” strategy we currently have.

Additionally, the legislation would require our federal land managers to set energy production goals on federal lands and to utilize all of our resources. This bill would provide the Secretary of Interior with some structure in terms of how much land and the time frames under which they should be released.  It would also give the Secretary additional resources to meet these time frames and also reduce the red tape involved in the various leasing programs. Finally, it would authorize the Secretary to conduct internet-based auction for onshore leases which would help modernize the bidding process. (continue reading…)

The Energy Information Agency in March published the break down in sources of U.S. Electricity Generation, 2011. It showed 42 percent of all electricity in this country is generated by coal. Next is natural gas at 25 percent. Nuclear is 19 percent, followed by hydropower at 8 percent. Wind produces 3 percent of our electricity with biomass produces about 1 percent. While petroleum, geothermal and solar all produce less than 1 percent each. These are all valuable components of our energy strategy.

Earlier this week I noticed that on “all of the above” section of President Obama’s campaign website, coal and hydropower have been left out! Coal plays such a vital role in our nation’s energy supply at 42 percent. It has to be a part of the conversation about an “all of the above” energy strategy.

By taking clean coal completely off the table, you could see an increase in electricity prices which will directly harm manufacturers’ ability to compete and create jobs. Taking coal offline through the EPA regulations is already threatening our power grid and causing reliability problems.

Later in the week I heard that coal was back on the President’s “all of the above” list so I pulled up the webpage and sure enough coal was back “in” but where was still no hydropower.

Hydropower produces more electricity than all the other renewables combined. According to EIA over half of the hydropower generated in this country comes from three states: Washington, Oregon and California.  Hydropower is clean, renewable and affordable.

Manufacturers need energy to produce products. Without energy this country cannot produce anything. We need energy from all sources and we cannot afford to take one source out of the mix. So when you see the phrase “all-of –the-above” I guess you need to ask yourself the question, “that depends on how you define the word all?” 

Chip Yost is associate vice president of energy and resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

The Energy Information Agency (EIA) noted on its daily “Today In Energy” that wholesale electricity prices in Texas spiked on April 26^th due to warmer weather. I wonder if the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) knows about this and is wondering what its efforts to close down coal powered utility generators will do to both supply and prices in states like Texas, Missouri, Ohio, Michigan as temperature climb during the summer months?

The EIA announcement states:  

“Warmer-than-normal temperatures across Texas drove the hourly, day-ahead wholesale electricity prices between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on April 26 and 27 above $500 per megawatt hour (MWh) in ERCOT, the electric system operator for most of Texas. Very high prices for just part of an upcoming day, especially during “super peaks”, can yield high average prices for the entire on-peak period. Prices for on-peak power in ERCOT were about four times higher than most other major power markets during that week.”

As the EPA promulgates the Utility MACT regulation, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), and the New Source Performance Standards for coal-fueled utilities, it does it the name of the environmental benefits. The fact is, however, that the incremental benefits compared to high costs placed on utilities will do far more harm than good. There will be substantial job losses in the utility and coals sectors. There will be a significant ripple effect as communities lose jobs and as electricity prices increase by double digits. (continue reading…)

The Nebraska State Legislature passed LB 1161 this afternoon on a 44-5 vote that brings TransCanada closer to finding a new route for the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska. This is positive news as it means TransCanada is that much closer to applying for another Presidential Permit to build the pipeline across our border with Canada. Approval of the pipeline means jobs and access to an affordable source of energy.

Gov. Heineman is expected to sign the legislation which will allow TransCanada to work with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to find a suitable route for the Keystone XL pipeline. The legislation also gives the governor 30 days to review the route and indicate whether or not they approve of the routes reviewed by DEQ

We cannot forget this project could have been well underway if the President had signed the permit last fall. This is the prime construction season and as many as 20,000 people would be working or gearing up to work on the project. The ripple effect through the economy, not only in the Midwest but throughout the country, would have been substantial – creating 118,000 jobs.

It’s unfortunate that the creation of these jobs will have to wait because the President put politics before policy and jobs. This only hurts our nation’s job creators who are struggling with high gas prices.

We need a common sense “all of the above” energy policy that provides us with greater stability and access to energy from domestic and friendly sources. A true “all of the above” strategy includes the Keystone XL pipeline and expanded domestic exploration and drilling. Manufacturers can’t afford to wait. This time around we hope the President approves Keystone XL as soon as possible. 

Chip Yost is vice president of energy and resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

The NAM has been and will continue to be a vigorous supporter if an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy.  Renewable energy is an important component of this strategy.

Manufacturers use one-third of the energy consumed in the United States, so secure and affordable energy is critical to their efforts to expand and create jobs. The renewable energy sources today provide us with a source of clean energy and give us a glimpse of what the future holds. Our nation’s policies should encourage the development of all resources, but it should let the marketplace drive those choices and not pick winners or losers.

Two important renewable sources are wind and solar. As we harness the power of the wind and the sun more efficiently, we will find the demand will only increase. We need sound federal policies that support the development and deployment of technologies to harness these platforms. Such policies not only support more access to additional forms of energy—they also support jobs. According to a recent report from SEMI, the global solar industry has the potential to create 10 million jobs in the coming years.  Another report notes that Congress has the opportunity to boost employment in the wind manufacturing sector to 46,000 in the next few years.

One of the difficulties the industry faces is the uncertainty of the Production Tax Credit (PTC), which is set to expire at the end of the year. Companies must make production and business decisions now for next year. The clock is ticking for renewing the credit—and we all know how slowly Congress moves.  Companies are making key decisions now and the longer Congress waits to provide certainty and approve key tax incentives the more manufacturing jobs are put in jeopardy.

If we want an “all of the above” approach to our energy challenges then we need to show that we are truly committed to this concept and take appropriate action. The development of energy, whether renewables, coal, oil, nuclear or gas, takes time and a commitment. A stop and go approach does not serve our country or our economy very well.