State of the Union Response
During his State of the Union address, President Obama offered a brief vision of a comprehensive energy policy. There are elements of that vision we share with our President and that we encourage state and federal lawmakers and regulators to embrace and implement.
In his speech, the President spoke compellingly on the need to restore economic prosperity and provide jobs for American workers. He called for the Congress and the nation to make the “tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.”
President Obama’s statement suggested that America needs to encourage more oil and natural gas production right here at home.
There are more than 10 billion barrels of crude oil reserves located off the California coast and huge reserves of natural gas. Our industry has demonstrated over the past 40 years it can and does operate safely in the marine environment.
To those of us in the petroleum industry, the President’s message was: Public policies that prevent or restrict access to domestic resources – when those resources can be developed safely and with regard for environmental sensitivities – are not in the nation’s best interest.
We believe it’s time to put our valuable energy resources to work helping America get back on its feet and get Americans back to work.
The President also spoke of developing other sources of energy for America, including emerging biofuels and alternative energy sources. We share his hopes for a diversified, commercially viable energy portfolio that will give consumers greater choices. WSPA strongly believes that America needs broad domestic access to energy in all of its forms in order to keep our economy prosperous and competitive.
By including offshore oil development in his vision of an energy future for the United States, Mr. Obama was acknowledging what energy experts know to be true – that the vast majority of our nation’s energy will continue to come from fossil fuels for many decades.
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