The President is gearing up for yet another jobs speech, thelatest attempt to show that this iteration of the mythical “jobs pivot” is forreal. Sadly, if we had a job every time Obama gave a jobs speech, why, we’d bepretty close to full employment by now.
Rather than continue talk Americans to death, NTU has been advocatinga number of actions Obama could take to breathe some life into our stagnant economy.One of the most important things is to allow companies to responsibly searchfor and develop domestic energy sources.
For years, the federal government has kept vast amounts of energyunder the lock and key of an exploration moratorium, or its more modern, but noless nefarious cousin, the “permitorium” whereby development is ground to ahalt through bureaucratic pigheadedness rather than statutory barriers.
Already this year the House of Representatives has passed severalpieces of legislation aimed at putting an end to the governmental obstructionismthat is forcing rigs to leave our waters, energy exploration to slow, andinvestment to flow to other countries. Sadly, each of these bills haslanguished in the Democrat-held Senate where most of them have not even beenbrought to a vote.
Tonight’s jobs speech presents yet another chance for PresidentObama to wake up to the fact that improving the efficiency and rate ofpermitting activity could rev our idle jobs engine. In anticipation of Obama’ssupposed plan, a group of 18 organizations have put together a coalitionletter urging him to consider the positive economic impacts of safe andreliable domestic energy.
Here’s an excerpt and the full letter can be found at the linkbelow,
“Accordingto a recent study from some of the leading energy economists in the world - IHSGlobal Insight and IHS CERA - increased exploration and production activitiesin the Gulf would create 230,000 jobs, increase US gross domestic product bymore than $44 billion, and contribute some 400,000 barrels per day of oilproduction towards US energy independence
. . . Therefore,we urge you to make responsible and effective exploration and development ofenergy resources in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere a centerpiece of your jobsagenda.”
https://www.gulfeconomicsurvival.org/phx-content/assets/files/Obama_Letter_on_Exploration_and_Jobs.pdf