Americas Oil and Gas Industry Under Attack
LOGA (Louisiana Oil & Gas Association)

“We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories”, said President Barrack Obama in his inaugural address on January 20, 2009. The rhetorical power of President Obama’s statement rings true with his commitment to renewable energy.

In the days following his inauguration, President Obama appointed the “Dream Green Team” to build his “Green Energy Economy”, appointing, scientist Steven Chu Secretary of Energy, former EPA Administrator Carol Browner Energy Czar, Lisa P. Jackson EPA Administrator and Ken Salazar as Secretary of Interior.

Promoting the use of fossil fuels as an energy source is not on the agenda of the “Dream Team”, but instead renewable energy from the sun, wind and soil, will be the focus of the Obama “Green Energy Economy”.

President Obama’s stimulus plan calls to double renewable energy production by 2012. Today, wind and solar energy make up barley 1% of America’s energy infrastructure. All renewable energy sources, solar, wind, hydro and ethanol make up 7% of Americas energy infrastructure.

No one disagrees that renewable energy has a place at the table in the total energy infrastructure, but realistically it will remain a small part of the big picture, even if you double it and double it again.

On February 27th, President Obama released his FY 2010 Budget, which is titled A New Era of Responsibility Renewing America’s Promise. In the proposed budget, President Obama strips from the oil and gas industry all of the incentives that are critical in raising the investment capital to explore for oil and natural gas.

If 70% of the US oil consumption is used for transportation and 96% of the fuel used for transportation is from oil, why would you devastate the very industry that produces the fuel that drives your transportation engines? That is exactly what President Obama is proposing in his 2010 budget.

In defense of his budget, President Obama said, “I know these steps won’t sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business, and I know they’re gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this: So am I”. President Obama is not just referring to the oil and gas lobby in this statement; his 2010 budget raises over 3 Trillion dollars on the backs of industry and taxpayers.

US Treasurer Secretary, Timothy Geithner, however, was more direct in his discussion on the proposed budget, "We don't believe it makes sense to significantly subsidize the production and use of sources of energy (like oil and gas) that are dramatically going to add to our climate change (problem). We don't think that's good economic policy and we think changing those incentives is good for the country”. For the record, there are as many scientists that do not believe global warming is caused by oil and natural gas as those that do.

President Obama’s 2010 budget is a direct attack on Americas oil and gas industry. Stripping the economic incentives from the thousands of American producers across the country will shut down oil and gas exploration and cause thousands of producing wells to be shut in. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar said, “But this is not, as some have suggested, a war on the oil and gas industry”. I guess that would depend on what end of the barrel you are looking down.