Experts Confirm Obama Administration Policies are Making Gas Prices Worse, Back GOPs All-of-the-Above Plan

Under the headline Increasing gas prices threaten recovery of economy, the Associated Press reports that if gas prices continue soaring experts fear Americans could pull back on spending, and job growth could stall, posing a potentially serious threat to the recovery.  The constant refrain from the White House is that little can be done to bring down gas prices, but according to experts at todays Natural Resources Committee hearing on Harnessing American Resources to Create Jobs and Address Rising Gasoline Prices, thats simply not the case. Here are three steps all part of the Republican Plan for Americas Job Creators and the American Energy Initiative – that President Obama could take to help address skyrocketing gas prices: 

• Approve the Keystone Pipeline to Boost & Facilitate the Flow of North American Energy.  According to estimates, the Keystone XL pipeline President Obama rejected and personally lobbied against would bring more than 800,000 barrels of energy to U.S. refineries each day.  But, as Manhattan Institute economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth pointed out at todays hearing, the Keystone pipeline is not only needed to replace shrinking energy supplies from Mexico and Venezuela, but will also serve as a much-needed transport route for shale oil produced in the Bakken and Utica fields, in North Dakota and Ohio.  Lucian Pugliaresi, President of the Energy Policy Research Foundation, Inc., echoed Furchtgott-Roth, adding that approval of the Keystone pipeline would send a signal to Canadian and U.S. producers that removes uncertainty over new transportation infrastructure to move both domestic and Canadian crude oil to coastal refiners chokepoints in domestic crude transportation infrastructure that are now threatening North American energy production.

• Expedite the Permitting Process to Send a Positive Signal About Future Energy Supplies.  The slow pace of leasing on federal lands, and an aggressive menu of new regulations are all sending the signal that U.S. policy remains uncertain regarding expanding domestic supply, warned Pugliaresi.  Furchtgott-Roth agreed, adding that President Obama has sent all the wrong signals and contributed to expectations of reduced supply through his slowdown in permitting, which has been almost 30 percent slower than it was prior to the Obama administrations de facto moratorium on offshore energy production. 

• Unlock more American Energy Exploration and Production. Conventional and alternative energy markets need the federal government to work more cooperatively with our energy producers, rather than adding new and increasingly complex layers of regulation and sending inconsistent and confusing signals to the market, said David Holt, president of the Consumer Energy Alliance. Many producers focus on areas where they do not have to deal with federal regulators, because much federal land is either off-limits or tied in red tape.  Almost all substantial U.S. onshore oil and gas developments have been on private lands, added Furchtgott-Roth.  Pugliaresi agreed, saying we should now announce an aggressive program to expand leasing for oil and gas on federal lands in the west, accelerate the offshore leasing program, and open up the vast opportunities in Alaska.  At the same time, we should implement a genuine regulatory reform effort so we can expand oil and gas output and realize the vast value added opportunities brought to the U.S. by this new production, adding that such an approach is fully in line with the Presidents own jobs council recommendations.

The recommendations made at todays hearing have all been passed by House Republicans under the American Energy Initiative, but remain stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate.  Instead of defending,  denying and deflecting blame for its failed energy record, the Obama administration should show the American people the president’s all-of-the-above energy rhetoric is more than just words by calling on Senate Democrats to support House Republicans effort to eliminate barriers to American energy production to help lower gas prices and create jobs.  More information on these, and nearly 30 other bipartisan, House-passed energy and jobs bills blocked by Senate Democrats is available on thePlan for Americas Job Creators website (jobs.gop.gov) as well as the American Energy Initiative Facebook page (facebook.com/americanenergy).