As President Obama prepares to address Congress and the nation about his proposals for creating jobs, API released a copy of a letter it sent to President Obama last week reminding him that AmericaºÚÁÏÉç™s energy industry is critical to the success of any proposal to address the nationºÚÁÏÉç™s unemployment problem.
ºÚÁÏÉç˜As you prepare to announce your proposal to address the persistently high unemployment rate and support American job creation, remember that energy and AmericaºÚÁÏÉç™s energy industry is critical to making it happen,ºÚÁÏÉç™ wrote API President and CEO Jack Gerard.
In the letter, Gerard pointed out that the oil and natural gas industry can be an ally in the presidentºÚÁÏÉç™s goal of jumpstarting job creation in America. He highlighted a study released this week by Wood Mackenzie, sponsored by API, which shows that the responsible development of AmericaºÚÁÏÉç™s own vast domestic resources, the oil and natural gas industry can create an additional 1 million jobs in the next 7 years and 1.4 million additional jobs by 2030. The study also finds the new development would create an additional US$ 800 billion in government revenue by 2030.
ºÚÁÏÉç˜The oil and natural gas industry is already a critical driver of economic growth and job creation: we support 9.2 million jobs and more than US$ 1 trillion in economic activity annually,ºÚÁÏÉç™ Gerard said in the letter. ºÚÁÏÉç˜We can do more of both, and increase our revenues to the federal government, through common sense policies that promote development and production of our domestic energy resources and CanadaºÚÁÏÉç™s oilsands, while protecting our national parks and fragile ecosystems.ºÚÁÏÉç™