Seventeen professional organizations representing various groups affected by the limited drilling and development permits in the US Gulf of Mexico have teamed to urge President Barack Obama and his administration to speed the oil and gas permitting process.
As the president works to create jobs in the United States, the groups penned a letter to the administration stressing the importance of oil and gas exploration and production to the Gulf Coast.
"One policy initiative that simultaneously creates high-paying jobs and increases revenues into federal coffers would be to improve efficiency and the rate of permitting activity in the Gulf of Mexico to a rate that is commensurate with industry’s ability to invest. Because safe, reliable domestic energy impacts all sectors of the US economy — manufacturing, agriculture, transportation and small business – such a move makes sense in light of the new regulatory regime and containment protocols developed by the Interior Department and private industry working in partnership," the letter read.
Representing a wide swath of industry, the associations involved in this call to action include the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Associated Industries of Florida, Consumer Energy Alliance, The Fertilizer Institute, Gulf Economic Survival Team, Independent Petroleum Association of America, Industrial Energy Consumers of America, International Association of Drilling Contractors, Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, Manufacturers Association of Florida, National Association of Manufacturers, National Ocean Industries Association, Offshore Marine Service Association, 60 Plus Association, Shallow Water Energy Security Coalition, and Shipbuilders Council of America.
The groups stress that getting the Gulf of Mexico back to work will create jobs all across the US, adding that a recent study found that increased exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico would create 230,000 jobs, increase the gross domestic product in the US by more than $44 billion, and add 400,000 barrels of oil a day of domestic production.
According to the letter, the rate that exploration plans are approved is down 85 percent, with the median approval time falling from 36 days to 131 days.
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