From The President 2.18.14

Ice on the cars, Interstate 10 closed, and an unexpected day off will be long remembered as we roll through January and get closer to warmer weather. We enjoyed hosting an economic forecast breakfast earlier in the month which pointed to a strong 2014, but progress has been slowed by the rarest of winters throughout the nation. We will have some ground to catch up in the months ahead if the year is to keep such a promise. President Obama gave his State of the Union speech and spoke about the prospects for energy independence because of the abundant supply and the low cost of natural gas. He acknowledged the more than 800,000 jobs created by the economy in recent years as real progress. I listened to the entire speech and believe it was a good one. It was positive and optimistic, but weak on some of the facts. There is much more he could do to make our lives better if he really understood energy.

First of all, much of what has happened with 800,000 new jobs is directly attributed to the natural gas revolution and new discoveries of oil reserves. The new foreign investments in the country are centered on fossil fuels and chemical related manufacturing. Examples include the decision by South African Company, Sasol, to invest $21 billion in Lake Charles, or the Netherlands Company, OCI, to invest $1.9 billion dollars in Beaumont. We also have the French company, Cheniere LNG, building liquefaction facilities in Cameron Parish to export natural gas and the plans for Golden Pass Products, partially owned by Qatar Petroleum, to do the same thing in Sabine Pass, a combined total of $20 billion dollars invested in LNG facilities on the Sabine Neches Ship Channel. We know the Canadians built a pipeline to Nederland known as the Keystone Pipeline which now flows with crude oil to Southeast Texas. All of this represents a tremendous and historic development which significantly bolsters all the numbers the President highlighted in his speech. But here is where the criticism lies. No approval of the completion of the entire Keystone Pipeline after five years from the date of application by the Canadian government. The Golden Pass project is in the second year of waiting for an export license from the Department of Energy with no indication of when such a license will be granted. Natural gas and oil exploration which will make American completely energy independent can only occur on private lands. Companies are fighting new applications of the endangered species laws and misinformation on water contamination attributed to fracking. Large federal tracks and most of the coasts are off limits to new drilling and exploration. There is no mechanism to obtain timely greenhouse gas permits, and more regulations are being proposed to limit greenhouse emissions in the name of global warming now marketed as climate change. The President’s budget continues to call for the elimination of depreciation deductions branded as tax breaks for “Big Oil”. It is a fact that the growth of jobs and investment in the oil and gas industry occurs despite the support of the federal government not because of the proactive actions of the federal government.

It is what it is as they say…………I don’t think I am being too harsh and I am open to a rebuttal. We can simply do so much better if we really embraced the opportunities for energy independence including the ability to export American goods to other parts of the world. It is reported that the Keystone XL Pipeline decision is imminent. Let us hope the right decision is made to really blow the door open for 2014. A year of action!