Cooperation, not Confrontation, is the Best Strategy for the Future of U.S. Energy
By Mike Sommers, American Petroleum Institute, President and Chief Executive Officer
Worldwide, momentum is growing for a future where energy providers meet customer demands with cleaner, sustainable energy solutions and a smaller carbon footprint. This is certainly true in the U.S., where President Joe Biden has set ambitious goals for America’s decarbonization, and where even local city councils are taking action on climate change. American energy producers share the urgency to win on climate change. But how do we get there?
Today there are two visions for the future American energy. The first vision involves the energy producers’ work to achieve climate change goals through continued innovation and low carbon technology. The second vision attempts to abrogate the industry through punitive policies and recriminations, even as industry-led efforts are driving down emissions and helping to fight climate change. We believe the choice is clear that cooperation — not confrontation — is the best path to the future we all want.
Our vision hinges on cooperation and strikes the important balance of meeting the world’s growing need for energy while simultaneously achieving environmental progress. Energy providers help deliver the abundant and affordable energy Americans need. This includes the natural gas and oil that sustains life as we know it by serving as the basis for products ranging from clothing, to your children’s basketballs and bike helmets to indispensable electronics. It takes petroleum and natural gas products to make cell phones and tablets and to manufacture life-saving medical devices like heart valves.
But America’s natural gas and oil producers make more than just raw materials. They’re also producing jobs. In fact, according to a study by PwC commissioned by API, the American natural gas and oil industry’s economic contributions of 11.3 million jobs and $1.7 trillion in U.S. gross domestic product is a strong economic backbone. Just as important, they are delivering energy in a safe and reliable way, while making critical progress in the battle to lower emissions.
Increased use of natural gas has been the single largest factor in driving power sector emissions to historic lows and has allowed the widespread deployment of wind and solar power. The International Energy Agency calculated that switching from coal to natural gas has saved around 500 million tons of carbon emissions since 2010. Likewise, methane emissions intensity declined by nearly 70 percent between 2011 and 2020 in five major U.S. production regions, based on EPA and EIA data.
Unfortunately, some detractors disregard these facts and espouse a different vision, one that seeks recriminations in courtrooms or in the halls of Congress. They believe that obstructionism, not industry innovation and cooperation, is the best path forward for finding climate solutions.
The truth is that a rush to punish energy producers, rather than work alongside them, has serious consequences to energy security and economic stability. We agree that the bar should be set high, because we do that every day, but we also believe that diminishing domestic natural gas and oil production in the name of 100 percent alternative energy is a path that puts a bright American energy future in jeopardy.
Data from the Energy Information Administration clearly shows us that energy demand is growing, not just to fuel our cars and heat our homes, but to support critical supply chains. If we don’t produce the natural gas and oil we need within our borders, we will likely have to revert to an “import more oil” policy from foreign rivals like Russia, China, and the Middle East. This is not just speculation, as the U.S. has been a net petroleum importer for six of the last seven months.
In addition, Americans could lose the significant economic contributions of the U.S. natural gas and oil industry on a federal, state and local level. For example, according to a study commissioned by Energy & Industrial Advisory Partners for America’s Offshore Energy Industry, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a program that protects national parks, wildlife refuges, national forests and other public lands, received over $1 billion of distributions from the natural gas and oil industry in 2019 alone. They could also lose energy efficiency, monitoring and reporting programs that are helping drive significant progress in reducing emissions.
The facts beg these questions to be asked: Just as we are gaining momentum around efforts to reduce emissions domestically and globally, why not support the efforts of our industry and academia to drive emissions even lower? As we are innovating, why not rely on our own resources rather than potentially pay more to get energy from places like Russia and the Middle East?
America’s natural gas and oil industry believes addressing climate change is an urgent challenge and that the bar to deliver meaningful environmental progress should be set high. This is not some fabricated story as many claim — we live it every day. We also believe that if America hopes to help beat climate change, we must stand together, embracing a spirit of cooperation — not confrontation.
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