CAES News
CAES Welcomes President's Lifting of OCS Energy Ban, Bipartisan Talks in Congress
For Immediate Release
http://www.secureourenergy.com
As President Bush Lifts Executive Moratorium on Offshore Energy Development in the OCS, Bipartisan House and Senate Groups Explore Energy Solutions
WASHINGTON, DC (July 14, 2008) – Today President George W. Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore domestic energy development in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). More information will become available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/. Meanwhile, bipartisan groups of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are exploring new energy legislation that could include expansion of domestic energy supply from the OCS.
Following the President’s announcement, the Consumer Alliance on Energy Security (CAES) a broad coalition of groups representing millions of Americans whose livelihoods depend on reliable and affordable supplies of energy, issued the following statement:
“We welcome the President’s announcement lifting the executive ban on offshore domestic energy development in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) as well as the vital, bipartisan energy discussions underway among groups of lawmakers in the House and Senate. These developments signal that America’s energy crisis has been recognized, that Americans’ broad support for offshore energy – reflected in several polls – has been heard, and that expanded offshore domestic energy development must be a meaningful part of our nation’s energy solution.
“Energy-intensive industries have experienced many negative impacts as a result of the failure of U.S. energy policy to adequately address the energy crisis:
- More than three million American manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2000, largely due to the high cost of energy in the United States.
- The U.S. chemistry industry has lost nearly 120,000 jobs and has gone from a $19 billion trade surplus in 1997 to an $8 billion trade deficit.
- Nearly half of U.S. fertilizer capacity has been permanently lost.
- America’s farm sector is being weakened by constraints on domestic natural gas development, even as global demand for food is growing every year.
- For the forest products industry, energy is the third-largest manufacturing costs – up 50% in the last couple of years for pulp and paper mills. For some mills, the cost of energy has eclipsed employee compensation.
- Consumers are paying more for electricity, home heating and cooling, gasoline, diesel fuel, and food. Today 10% of the nation’s homeowners – over six million households – are having difficulty paying their natural gas heating bills.
“CAES supports aggressive energy efficiency and conservation programs to immediately begin reducing energy demand and stretch the existing domestic oil and natural gas supply base; investments in alternative energy R&D to diversify energy sources; investments in energy delivery infrastructure; and increased access to new sources of domestic energy supply. We would welcome a bipartisan effort that took serious steps on both supply and demand.
“The Consumer Alliance for Energy Security played a prominent role in winning passage of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, signed in 2006. Now more than ever, America needs an energy policy that puts the nation on a path to a more affordable, secure energy future. We are committed to pursuing important energy objectives – in 2008 and beyond – on a bipartisan basis.”
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Contacts:
Jennifer Scott
American Chemistry Council
(703) 741-5813
jennifer_scott@americanchemistry.org