API: Senate Democratic energy plan could threaten consumers, energy renaissance

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Sep 22, 2015, 02:15 ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A plan to raise taxes on energy and pick winners and losers in the marketplace released Tuesday by Senate Democrats is backward-facing and could threaten America's energy revolution and harm consumers, according to API Executive Vice President Louis Finkel.

"API supports an all-of-the-above energy strategy based on America's vast resources that will provide affordable and reliable energy to consumers here at home and abroad for generations to come. This proposal uses taxpayer dollars to raise the cost of energy for American consumers.

"America's oil and natural gas industry pays one of the highest tax rates among U.S. businesses, generating billions of dollars every year in revenue for the federal government. Instead of higher taxes and royalty rates that discourage domestic production, policymakers should follow pro-development energy policies that create jobs and help our nation provide affordable and reliable energy for consumers.

"Even as record amounts of domestic energy are recovered, the oil and natural gas industry's multibillion dollar investments in low- and zero-emissions technologies continue to drive down greenhouse gas emissions. These investments have helped America lead the world in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, which are down to 27-year lows. A strong domestic oil and natural gas sector provides hundreds of thousands of workers with well-paying jobs, indirectly supports millions of additional jobs and continues to drive down the cost of energy for consumers. By embracing America's energy renaissance, we can lower costs, clean the air, and create more jobs here at home while providing an example to the world. It's ironic that the U.S. would strike a deal to allow Iranian crude onto the global market while refusing to give the same opportunity to American producers.

"Maintaining a world-leading economy is simply not possible without using fossil fuels. The Energy Information Administration estimates that fossil fuels will account for 80 percent of U.S. energy consumption though 2040."

API is the only national trade association representing all facets of the oil and natural gas industry, which supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy. API's more than 625 members include large integrated companies, as well as exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms. They provide most of the nation's energy and are backed by a growing grassroots movement of more than 25 million Americans.

SOURCE American Petroleum Institute