President Barack Obama pushed drilling for gas in shale rock and support for cleaner energy sources to boost the economy in his final State of the Union address before facing U.S. voters in November.
Hydraulic fracturing, the process of injecting water, sand and chemicals underground to free gas trapped in rock, could create more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade, Obama said yesterday. The process, called fracking, is among a list of energy policies Obama said would fuel economic growth.
“We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100 years, and my administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy,” Obama said.
Obama reiterated support for conservation and cleaner sources of power and pledged more oil drilling as part of an ‘all-out, all-of-the-above’’ policy “that’s cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs.” He said domestic energy production is at an eight-year high and imports of foreign oil were declining, prompting criticism from Republicans.
“It’s just a blind accident, if in fact we are producing more oil or natural gas than in previous years, because it’s not because of any of his efforts,”
Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican and head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said after the speech.
Republicans also sought to contrast Obama’s pledge to use energy policy to create jobs with his denial of a permit to TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL pipeline to connect Canada’s oil sands to refineries on the Gulf coast.
Republicans, Keystone
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, delivering the Republican response to a nationwide television audience, called Keystone a “perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands” and said that Obama has sought to stifle energy production in the U.S.
Keystone would “have done more than any other project to increase our energy security and revive our economy,” Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, said in a statement after the speech.
Obama announced incentives to make industries more energy efficient, and again called on Congress to require that a larger percentage of the nation’s power come from low-pollution sources.
He directed his administration to open up more than 75 percent of potential offshore oil and gas resources for production.
Eight-Year High
“Right now, American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years,” Obama said. “Not only that – last year, we relied less on foreign oil than in any of the past 16 years.”
U.S. natural-gas production averaged 1.89 trillion cubic feet a month through October, 13 percent higher than the average during President George W. Bush’s two terms, according to Energy Department data.
Crude oil production is 2 percent higher, the department said.
Greenpeace Executive Director Phil Radford in a statement criticized the emphasis on fracking, which he said poses risks to water supplies. Companies say the process is safe.
Obama said the drive for new drilling would be accompanied by regulations to ensure safe drilling practices. Those would include a requirement that companies operating on public lands disclose the chemicals used in the fracking fluid.
Jobs, Taxes
As Obama backed more domestic oil and gas production, he also pledged support for renewable sources of power, urging Congress to pass clean energy tax credits and a mandate for more electricity to come for cleaner sources of power.
An energy efficiency initiative he’s backing would cut $100 billion from the nation’s energy bills, he said. Obama also pledged that the Defense Department would make the largest renewable energy purchases in history.
Senator Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat and chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that the priorities Obama laid out were a “very good blueprint for how we can accelerate economic growth in our country.”
Dave Foster, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a group that represents labor and environmental groups, said in an interview that Obama was “showing us a path” to how clean energy can increase manufacturing jobs.
Obama also repeated his call from last year to repeal tax credits for the oil and gas industry. That effort failed to win broad support in Congress, after producers said the measures would push more production and jobs outside the U.S.
“Advocating greater energy production but penalizing those who provide that energy is not a sound energy policy, but a contradiction,” Jack Gerard, chief executive officer of the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement.
Incredible, its like Obama discovered natural gas a couple weeks ago, now he wants to take credit for the jobs it creates and act as if he’s leading the way.
Anything the oil/gas industry has done the past three years, has been in spite of Obama and not because of him.
And oil production rising in the past three years has much more to do with the high price of oil that has encouraged investment since 2003, than government action.
In fact, its those ” record profits ” by oil companies that have created this increase in production of both oil and natural gas.
Obama still talks raising taxes on these companies, which is a disincentive to increasing production.
This jackal even tried to take credit for development of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.
What a joke. But there will be a host of dummies who buy his crap.
As if this isn’t already happening. What an incompetent. The emperor has no clothes.
Stopped in 2010. 2012 time to end this bad experiment in government.
We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100 years, and my administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy
Really? When your administration was originally against fracking? When you’ve campaigned AGAINST the oil and gas industry in favor of incredibly inefficient “green” energy sources?
Here’s a question for you many Democrats who read this paper? Do you really believe what he says? If so, tell me why you believe him (and leave off inane comments about Bush, Cheney, Big Oil, and the rest of your talking points). I want your honest opinion as to why you believe what he says. You can even say, “because this will benefit me directly.” I don’t care. Be HONEST.
“…before facing U.S. voters in November.”
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…and that’s what it’s all about.
Why doesn’t Obama highlight all the jobs he created through Solyndra?
“Here’s a question for you many Democrats who read this paper? Do you really believe what he says?”
1. No. But neither do I believe anything that comes out of Newt or Mitt’s mouth, or most of Congress. Why? Lobbyists own the whole lot of them, even Obama.
2. I disagree with the President on fracking. The jury’s still out on whether it messes up the environment. When you can turn on your kitchen faucet and ignite it, something’s wrong.
3. I don’t have a problem with the oil and gas sector. They’re important. But all any reasonable people are asking is to a) recognize that resources are finite and need not be wasted, a1) let’s develop alternative fuel sources that are practical, safe, cheap and clean – without kicking, screaming, whining or name-calling and that b) everyone on this planet has a responsibility to protect the natural environment. Why do conservatives fight against that so hard????
He doesn’t have a clue…..just a clown pretending he knows what to do.
“let’s develop alternative fuel sources that are practical, safe, cheap and clean – without kicking, screaming, whining or name-calling and that b) everyone on this planet has a responsibility to protect the natural environment. Why do conservatives fight against that so hard????”
Mike, the “alternative” sources being developed are not cheap, nor are they really clean. You do realize that, don’t you? The key to a prosperous economy is CHEAP, RELIABLE energy. This is NOT what the current administration is developing. They are developing what I have been calling “boutique” energy sources that are only practical if you can afford them (because ROI is measured in decades and initial costs are prohibitive).
Yes, we DO have a responsibility to protect the natural environment. The oil and gas industry has taken the lead on this, and has been doing this for DECADES.
You liberals intentionally overlook CHEAP and RELIABLE sources of energy because it doesn’t fit your narrative.
By the way, the jury is only out (on fracking) in the media-driven court of public opinion. Don’t confuse that with science and engineering.