IPAA independent petroleum association of america, america's oil and gas producers

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Nicole Daigle / Brendan Bradley
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For Immediate Release
August 13, 2010


Clear Majority of Americans: "It is time that the Obama Administration lifts its senseless moratorium"

WASHINGTON - The wrongheaded policies being driven by the Obama Administration, particularly its ban on responsible domestic offshore oil and natural gas development, continue to be rejected by a clear majority of Americans who recognize that American energy production is critical to our nation's economic strength and our ability to keep energy prices stable for consumers.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America's (IPAA) Dan Naatz tells Politico's Morning Energy this week that "our concern all along is that there's going to be an overreaction to the tragedy in the Gulf." This concern is clearly shared with an overwhelming majority of everyday Americans. In fact, according to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, "Sixty-four percent (64%) of U.S. voters now believe offshore oil drilling should be allowed."

Along with IPAA, Gulf Coast states are fighting back with force against the Obama Administration's job-killing moratorium. The Associated Press reports this under the headline "Texas sues feds over offshore drilling ban" this week:

Attorney General Greg Abbott filed the 18-page suit in federal court in Houston against Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. The ban halted the approval of any new permits for deep-water projects and shut down drilling at 33 exploratory ocean wells in the wake of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico. 

In his lawsuit, Abbott called the ban "an unjustified, arbitrary and capricious policy that will inflict harm upon coastal communities." 

Also, the suit said, federal officials did not coordinate with the state or consider the economic impacts before issuing the moratorium. Texas is one of the nation's most active oil refinery states. State figures show there were 86,900 jobs in oil and natural gas extraction in April and an additional 107,800 in support industries.


Even the co-chair of the presidential oil spill commission is perplexed by the wrongheaded policies being pursued by the Obama White House. William Reilly, who ran the Environmental Protection Agency during the Exxon Valdez spill, told this to the Washington Post earlier in the week: 

I don't understand why it would take six months to vet 33 [deep-water] rigs [under the moratorium] for safety, environmental compliance, regulatory integrity. It's never been made clear to me, and the testimony we received in New Orleans was not convincing on that.


Newspapers in the region, who understand how the irresponsible offshore moratorium is deepening the economic fallout in the Gulf, continue to call for this job-killing ban to be lifted:

  • New Orleans Times-Picayune: "The government should follow through and end the blanket ban. ... The ban has faced growing criticism from scientists who have proposed alternatives to improve safety quickly without such a broad prohibition. In fact, those experts have said the drilling ban is not needed to improve industry safety. Officials across the region also have raised alarms about the moratorium's economic impact. ... The longer the administration takes, the worse the economic damage will be for people across the Gulf. ... In addition, the uncertainty of the ban has stunted investment. Workers unsure about their jobs also are less likely to spend -- hurting our region's economy. Even drillers not affected by the ban are feeling the pain caused by the ongoing uncertainty. ... The moratorium is not what's improving safety now, and it's making it harder for the Gulf to recover from this disaster. It's time for the federal government to end this policy." (Editorial, 8/8/10)

  • Lufkin (Tx.) Daily News: "It is time that the Obama Administration lifts its senseless moratorium on offshore drilling and puts Americans back to work in our waters developing the energy resources our country needs." (Editorial, 8/8/10)


At the same time this Administration continues to restrict access to job-creating, taxpayer-owned oil and natural gas resources, the White House is also working to hike taxes by billions of dollars on independent producers, which will impact nearly every American consumer. Gary Wolfram, professor of economics and public policy at Hillsdale College, writes this under the headline "Oil tax will hurt national economy" in the Detroit Free Press this week:

The tax increases will result in less oil production in the United States, and increased costs of shipping and transporting oil from other countries. An additional $80 billion in taxes on oil and gas must result in an increase in the price of oil and gas, along with reduced employment in the industry and also in ancillary industries.

Despite the very large incentives that taxpayers have given to renewable resources, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that four-fifths of our energy needs will come from fossil fuels in 2030. It clearly is not possible that the reduced employment in the oil and gas industry can even in small part be made up by increased employment in such areas as wind turbines and solar photovoltaics.

This, however, is but the tip of the iceberg. Since oil is an input into the production of such disparate industries as fertilizer, plastic syringes, synthetic fibers, and detergents, there will be an increased cost in the production of these goods, resulting in a reduction in employment in each of these industries. In addition, the cost of delivering the mail, flowers, packages, packaged goods -- everything that is shipped by road or by rail, will also increase, affecting employment.

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IPAA is the national trade association representing oil and natural gas producers that drill 90 percent of the nation's oil and natural gas wells. These companies account for 68 percent of America's oil production and 82 percent of its natural gas production.