The Honorable Doc Hastings
Chairman
Committee on Natural Resources
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Edward Markey
Ranking Member
Committee Natural Resources
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Hastings and Ranking Member Markey:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region, supports H.R. 3410, the “Energy Security and Transportation Jobs Act,” H.R. 3408, the “Protecting Investment in Oil Shale the Next Generation of Environmental, Energy and Resource Security Act (PIONEERS Act),” and H.R. 3407, the “Alaskan Energy for American Jobs Act.” This suite of bills, which make up the energy portion of H.R. 7, the “American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act,” would create long-term jobs and help expand long-term domestic energy security and energy production.
H.R. 3410 builds on the Department of the Interior’s recent announcement to conduct a long-overdue lease sale in the Central Gulf of Mexico by fully restoring access to America’s offshore oil and gas resources. Energy research firm Wood Mackenzie calculates that full development of the offshore areas left off-limits by Interior’s current plan—namely, the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and most of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico—could provide hundreds of thousands of additional new jobs, more than $300 billion in cumulative additional revenue for government, and nearly 4 million addition barrels oil equivalent per day by 2030.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the United States possesses at least 1.5 trillion barrels of oil in the form of oil shale. As has occurred with other unconventional oil sources, the combination of higher oil prices and advances in technology have now placed this abundant domestic resource within reach. H.R. 3408 establishes clear rules for the production of domestic oil shale and removes regulatory barriers that could impede job creation by this sector.
Finally, H.R. 3407 opens less than 3 percent of the North Slope of Alaska to oil and gas exploration. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is now operating at only one-third of its original capacity. H.R. 3407 would help prolong the life of this critical national asset by ensuring that oil continues to flow through the pipeline, while creating important jobs in Alaska and throughout the country. The Chamber supports responsible exploration of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and H.R 3407 not only limits the size and scope of the area under exploration but also provides important protections to species and high standards for the reclamation of developed land.
This suite of bills would create jobs while keeping energy prices low, a true “win-win” scenario for American consumers. The Chamber urges the Committee to report H.R. 3410, 3408 and 3407 favorably so that the full House can move to the consideration of H.R. 7 as expeditiously as practical.
Sincerely,
R. Bruce Josten
cc: Members of the Committee on Natural Resources