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…)

Today the Department of Interior announced it will allow Shell to begin “limited prepatory activities” in the Chukchi Sea. This will allow Shell to begin work on a mud-line cellar and install two segments of pipe which will help in installing the blowout preventer.

The window of opportunity to perform these activities is extremely small on the Chukchi Sea and it’s important that Shell be able to continue to move forward. Today is an important step in the development of a major offshore resource that will benefit our economy and create jobs.

As Shell continues to move forward with this project we are hopeful that the Department of Interior and other government agencies will recognize the need to approve future permits in a timely manner. By moving faster it will enable these valuable resources to come online faster without delay and create thousands of jobs in the process.

Ross Eisenberg is vice president of energy and resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

Yesterday the U.S. Energy Information Agency released data showing in 2011 energy-related emissions declined in the U.S. This is the fourth time in the past six years we have seen a drop and this time it happened during a year of economic growth. 

Manufacturers continue to lead the way in developing and implementing new ways to reduce emissions. Today’s report is clear evidence that industry is working hard to reduce emissions own their own without unnecessary and burdensome government involvement.  In 2011, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions were 9 percent below 2005 levels; under the failed Waxman-Markey bill, they were only supposed to be 3 percent below 2005 levels in this same time frame.

Both large and small manufacturers continue to be saddled with costly and complex regulations from the EPA which will directly impact how they operate their businesses. Manufacturers expect to make even further advances in the future without regulations from the government which will hurt jobs and drive economic growth to a halt.

Last Friday the National Association of Manufacturers joined several other business groups in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Colubmia urging the court to strike down the EPA’s Utility Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for new power plants.

This burdensome and costly regulation from the EPA is already having an impact on jobs, as several plants throughout the country are being forced to close. Utility MATS will also drive up energy prices on manufacturers who use one-third of the energy our nation consumes.

The amicus brief filed Friday argues that the EPA set standards that utilities are unable to meet with existing technology. This methodology has an impact on other manufacturing sectors that are also subject to similar regulations.  The EPA’s approach will ultimately prevent construction of new plants because of the inability to meet these new unachievable standards.

With unemployment stuck at 8.3 percent and weekly indicators showing economic growth is slowing manufactures simply can’t afford an energy price increase.

This afternoon a federal judge in the U.S. District Court in Washington ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overstepped the bounds of the law in its Final Guidance for coal mining operations in Appalachia. The final guidance was in reality a prohibition on mining permits.

The EPA’s action stepped on the rights of state agencies to manage this particular permit process. They took this action knowing full well what they were doing.

This is another example of how the EPA has overstepped its authority. The EPA continues to move forward on a wide range of burdensome regulations that are hampering our nation’s energy producers and driving up energy prices.

As we mentioned this morning, the Utility MACT regulations are forcing the closure of plants throughout the nation, costing jobs and driving up prices. Manufacturers simply can’t afford more regulations at a time when they are facing so many headwinds making it difficult to create jobs and grow.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced this afternoon that it will reconsider some aspects of its Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for new power plants. The Agency will also stay the new source rules for three months during the review process.

According to a press release, the EPA “will review monitoring issues related to the mercury standards for new power plants and will address other technical issues on the acid gas and particle pollution standards for these plants.”

The MATS rule is one of the most expensive regulations ever promulgated by the agency for power plants, and we hope the EPA’s reconsideration will provide some relief for companies building five new power plants in Georgia, Kansas, Texas and Utah.

We will be closely following developments over the next few months as the EPA begins the reconsideration. Hopefully the EPA is begining to see the many challeges and burdens this regulation will place on energy producers. This regulation will result in increased energy prices for manufacturers, contributing to the already unfavorable business environment that is limiting job growth.

Alicia Meads is director of energy and resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

This afternoon, the Department of the Interior released its proposed final five-year plan (PFP) for offshore oil and gas leasing.  There’s really no way to sugarcoat this: today’s PFP is a major step backwards. 

The five-year plan proposed in January 2009 would have made new areas along the Outer Continental Shelf, including the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, available for leasing; today’s plan limits leasing to the Gulf of Mexico and parts of Alaska.  And it makes more areas off-limits than it makes available.

More than 85 percent of federal offshore acreage remains off-limits to development.  According to a study by WoodMackenzie Energy Consulting, policies that encourage domestic oil and gas exploration could add $127 billion in government revenue, 1.1 million jobs and 4 million barrels’ worth of oil and natural gas per day.  The PFP released today strongly suggests that job creation from increased oil and gas production is not as high a priority for the agency as other factors.

The PFP also ushers in a new leasing philosophy for the agency, what it calls a “regionally tailored” approach.  According to the PFP, “Decisions about the OCS planning areas to be considered for potential leasing, as well as decisions about the configuration of individual lease sales within a planning area, must be based on the unique combination of resource potential, and environmental and social factors specific to individual OCS areas.” 

What this appears to mean is that, as opposed to the past practice of leasing a tract and allowing the environmental review process to dictate exploration and mitigation, the agency will now preemptively take areas offline before even allowing environmental regulation to commence.  We’ll see how this plays out, but  the NAM is very concerned with Interior’s new approach to leasing.

Ross Eisenberg is vice president of energy and resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

Yesterday was a big step for Artic oil exploration as two Shell drilling ships and support vessels left Seattle for the Artic. The ships are heading north to begin exploration of the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s north coast and the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast.

Given the extremely low temperatures of the Artic the window for oil and gas exploration is very small, which was why it was extremely important Shell begins this summer. This is also why it is extremely important the Department of Interior issue all the necessary permits this summer.  Any additional delay will force Shell to wait until next summer, costing us a chance to develop key domestic oil and gas resources.

Earlier this week Interior Secretary Salazar said that the department is “highly likely” to greenlight the permits and also said he is “confident and comfortable” that Shell can drill safely. The Secretary went on to say he believes the approved plan will stand up to any lawsuits from environmental groups.

We hope that the department will move forward and approve all remaining permits as soon as possible so Shell can begin exploration. This is an important step for energy development in the artic. We need to do more to develop domestic sources of energy and today is a step in the right direction.

It’s already been a very productive day on Capitol Hill for Dow Chemical and the nearly 400 manufacturers in Washington, D.C. during the NAM’s Manufacturing Summit.

Carol Williams of Dow just met with Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) to share what’s on the minds of manufacturers and the conversation kept coming back to energy, energy, energy.

She shared the simple fact that manufacturers are the largest consumers of energy in the U.S. Senator Brown was told how critical it is that we take advantage of developing our domestic resources, including shale gas – a true game changer for manufacturers.

Thus far the message of manufacturers is being heard loud and clear!

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…)