The Department of Energy (DOE) approved a license for a Texas facility to export liquefied natural gas (LNG). FuelFix reports:

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper traveled to New York City yesterday to talk up the benefits of the Keystone XL pipeline and Canadian energy in genera

I was hoping Interior Secretary Sally Jewell would pass her first test on fully embracing America’s energy abundance.

The United States is sitting on a lot of coal. If policymakers don’t want it used to generate electricity, we should be able to ship it to countries that want it, right?

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell just started her new job, but her department already has an important issue concerning hydraulic fracturing, the technology that’s unleashed America’s energy resurgence. The Interior Department plans to issue rules on hydraulic fracturing on federal lands in a few weeks.

Underneath Pennsylvania and New York state runs the Marcellus Shale, a formation rich with natural gas. The two states’ differing policies on the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract natural gas have created a natural economic experiment. In Pennsylvania, hydraulic fracturing is allowed. New York has had a moratorium on fracking since 2010. 

In what surely must be a conflict of interest (just a smidge), a Rhode Island judge is asking environmental groups to offer suggestions on how best to punish a natural gas company.

Isn't that like asking a vegetarian to judge a barbecue contest? They’re not exactly going to be impartial on the matter.

Tomorrow, at fabled Churchill Downs, they’ll run the 139^th Kentucky Derby.

Don’t expect the energy boom in Montana and the Dakotas to end anytime soon.  According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the formations below these three states hold double the amount of oil and triple the amount of natural gas than was believed five years ago.

Yesterday, a few blocks from the White House, labor unions rallied in support of the Keystone XL pipeline. Sean McGarvey, President of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO asked President Obama to approve it:

At a Politico event on taxes and energy, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) again pushed the idea that the tax code stacks the deck in favor of oil and gas companies. She said, “We made a policy decision to pick a winner. We picked a winner. They [oil and gas] won. And they’ve been doing great.”

Despite spring snow, more than 1,000 people stood in line in Grand Island, NE to speak at the only public hearing on the State Department’s latest environmental analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Linda Rozette, Vice President of Communications at the American Petroleum Institute, tweeted a picture this morning:

Tomorrow, the U.S. State Department will hold the one-and-only public hearing on the Keystone XL Pipeline in Nebraska as part of its ongoing environmental review process. A quick history lesson: The Keystone XL pipeline was first proposed in 2008. In January 2012, even after the project had passed multiple environmental reviews by the State Department, President Obama rejected construction of the part of the pipeline running from Canada to Nebraska on the grounds that it would violate the environmentally sensitive Sandhills area of Nebraska.

In his Senate confirmation hearing, Energy Secretary nominee Ernest Moniz called the natural gas boom a “revolution.”

One would think that a President harping on building infrastructure and creating jobs would mention a major project in his budget.

Imagine a United States with no operating nuclear plants. Let’s shed some light on this.

Gregory B. Jaczko, former Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for President Obama, is calling for the phase out all 104 U.S. nuclear reactors. That would take 19% of the nation’s electricity production offline.

Thanks go out to Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).

Really. This isn't a late April Fools joke. I really mean it.

Through his attempt to raise taxes on our sputtering economy, he helped make the case, as explained by the Institute for Policy Innovation’s Merrill Matthews in the Wall Street Journal, that “special tax breaks just for the oil and gas industry don't exist.”

A Pew Research Center poll found that 66% of Americans favor building the Keystone XL pipeline that would move Canadian oil to the United States.

Mark Green at Energy Tomorrow pulls out some stats to show the widespread support:

Abundant U.S. energy, courtesy of hydraulic fracturing tapping shale oil and natural gas deposits as well as other sources, is attracting manufacturers from Europe where energy prices are significantly higher.

The My Free Enterprise app—available for iPhone, iPad, and Android—is your home

Energy export opponents received a gift from the governors of Washington State and Oregon this week when they asked the White House to look at the possible effects of greenhouse gas emissions from proposed coal export facilities (like the Gateway Pacific Terminal

Remember 1995? The year that brought us Toy Story and Braveheart, the O.J. Simpson trial, a U.S.

The U.S Chamber of Commerce Institute for 21st Century Energy recently completed its annual review of each state’s average electricity retail prices (full results available here). The highest average rate in the continental United States belongs to Connecticut, where electricity costs nearly 16 cents per kilowatt hour, or nearly 60% higher than the national average of just under 10 cents.

The pundits were out in force this weekend talking about the Keystone XL pipeline. One went off the deep end while another used common sense.

For the New York Times’ Tom Friedman, Keystone XL opened up a pipeline of wackiness. He wants anti-energy activists to “go crazy.” We’re talking “chain-themselves-to-the-White-House-fence-stop-traffic-at-the-Capitol kind of crazy.”

At the IHS CERAWeek conference in Houston, Bill Gates made a pitch for nuclear power:

"The only way to solve the climate challenge is have some source of energy that's economic," Gates told the gathering on Thursday evening.

In at the last few years, natural gas has flooded the market making it a valuable fuel for electricity generation, but we live in a global economy where commodities trade across borders and new technology constantly spring up. Fuel prices and availability fluctuates. To prevent price spikes and maintain reliable generating capacity, electricity producers need energy diversity--natural gas, coal, nuclear, hydro, solar, and wind.

A Congressional Research Service report finds that the administration deserves zero credit for America’s oil and gas boom. The increase in oil production has been from state and private lands:

Today in Houston, energy experts from across the globe are meeting at the annual HIS CERAWeek conference. FuelFix reports:

In case you were a normal American and finishing up your workweek last Friday afternoon, you may have missed the State Department releasing a draft supplemental environmental impact statement finding that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline

The State Department released a draft supplemental environmental impact statement for the Keystone XL pipeline and again found that it wouldn’t ha

Oil, natural gas, and coal aren’t the only energy sources weighed down by regulatory agencies. The Cape Wind project off the Massachusetts coast is a classic example of the claim by U.S. Chamber’s Senior Vice President for the Environment, Technology & Regulatory Affairs Bill Kovacs that it’s as hard to build a wind farm in the U.S. as it is a coal-fired power plant.

Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and and Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT) unveiled “The Energy Production and Project Delivery Act of 2013,” a bill that would help meet the growing demand for energy in the U.S.

In this video, David Chavern, U.S. Chamber Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, explains how shale energy production is transforming America's energy landscape. Because of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, the United States has access to at least 100 years of domestic shale natural gas and oil at current consumption rates. This increased domestic production means more economic growth, American jobs, and government revenues, with the impact being felt in states with and without shale resources.

Tom Donohue, U.S.

Fuel Fix reports that a new 1,000-acre rail yard project is underway in Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale region to accomodate the transportation of oil, gas, and hydraulic fracturing materials:

Yesterday, the administration announced that it would cut red tape on the federal permitting and review process for infrastructure projects, and it had the audacity to include pipelines

From the first well dug in Titusville, PA, to Texas oilman George Mitchell's combination of  hydraulic fracturing with horizontal drilling, to the use of supercomputers today, innovation has been at the heart of American energy development.

Editors note: This essay was originally published by McClatchy Newspapers.

Can increasing American energy exploration improve our economy? Yes, but more to the point, it's already happening.

Energy - and the jobs and growth it will drive - is the foundation for our economic recovery.

It’s not a good sign when the biggest news from your protest is how many people showed up—or didn’t show up. That’s the lede of the Toronto Globe and Mail’s coverage of a Washington, DC protest against the Keystone XL pipeline:

The Washington Examiner’s Byron York notes the political bind President Obama is in over the Keystone XL pipeline:

In the State of Union Address, President Obama talked about helping American manufacturing create more jobs, and he talked about the important of increased energy development. I want to make the case that they’re intertwined.

When it comes to energy, Washington could learn a lot from North Dakota. Leaders in government and business have come together to safely and responsibly develop the state’s vast natural resources. As a result, North Dakota is at the epicenter of a shale energy boom and is reaping enormous economic benefits.

The president will outline his second-term agenda during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. With 23 million people unemployed, underemployed, or who have stopped looking for work, the American public wants to hear from the president about policies that create jobs. Below are shareable tweets about each item in the Chamber’s Jobs & Growth agenda. Although the message in each tweet is important, we are asking our readers to select those they think are the most important to the future of the U.S. economy by retweeting them.

Secretary of State John Kerry will have his first meeting with his Canadian counterpart, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. One of the topics expected to come up is the Keystone XL pipeline.

TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline project, isn’t waiting for the administration to approve the pipeline. They’re determined to move Canadian oil to global markets and have proposed a pipeline project going east:

How does an effort to improve the beautiful views at national parks magically turn into a tool in the war on coal? It happens when EPA and environmental groups use a “Sue and Settle” strategy to override state environmental efforts and impose the agency's more-expensive rules.

If the federal government were a team playing in the Super Bowl, the referees would be throwing delay of game penalties left and right. On moving oil and coal, their actions are more about slowing things down than removing unnecessary  obstacles.

North Dakota does not top the list of exotic, sunny locales that you’d want to visit in January. But Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue braved the -17 degree temperatures (-34 with the wind chill) to see firsthand why North Dakota is one of the most economically successful, innovative, and well-run states in the nation.

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The economy may be going down the tube, but nothing will kill free enterprise —@david_a_george via Twitter

This isn’t the first time that Hondo Railway has experienced an energy boom. But it might be the one with the biggest impact on the 32-year-old company.

“This is Texas. Oil booms come and go, so there’s a cautious approach to how long it will last, or if it’s here to stay,” says Miles Lee, vice president of operations at Hondo Railway.

At the end of 2012, President Obama declared that domestic energy production would be a top priority in his second term. He said, “We’ve got a huge opportunity around energy. We are producing more energy, and America can become an energy exporter.”

Here’s a glimpse at a few key players in the 113^th Congress who will have a role in determining the fate of such issues as energy development, comprehensive tax reform, and financial regulation.

Federal regulations have mothballed a proposed Corpus Christi, Texas power plant:

From the snow-covered mountains of Davos Switzerland, site of the World Economic Forum, U.S.

It’s been a busy week for Senator John Hoeven (R-ND).

By approving a new route through Nebraska, Governor Dave Heineman pulled the Keystone XL pipeline back into the news. The permit approval ball is now in the administration's court. 

In an editorial today, the Washington Post supports building the Keystone XL pipeline:

“Hydraulic fracturing” sounds ominous, right? You’re not really sure what it is, has a lot of syllables, and sounds scary. In 2010, the documentary Gasland played off that lack of knowledge to make hydraulic fracturing into a villain that caused well water to be set on fire, made people sick, and even caused earthquakes.

How much does the Sierra Club hate the Keystone XL pipeline? They hate it so much that for the first time in the organization’s 120-year history it will engage in a one-time use of civil disobedience (i.e. getting arrested) to stop construction of the pipeline.

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman approved a new route through his state for the Keystone XL pipeline.  In a letter to President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Heineman wrote, “Construction and operation of the proposed Keystone X

I previously covered why it’s so important for the federal government to deal with its fiscal problems. The next pillar of the U.S. Chamber’s American Jobs and Growth Agenda I’ll cover is energy. In his State of American Business address, U.S.

At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, we begin the New Year by looking at how American business is doing, discussing the key challenges facing our economy, and identifying the top priorities we plan to work on.

Not so many years ago, America was anxiously building new import liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals so that we would have adequate supply. Today is quite different. As U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue noted in the State of American Business address, the United States is “now the largest single natural gas producer in the world,” and is now in “a position to export liquefied natural gas.”

In his State of American Business address, U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue declared that the Keystone XL pipeline "must be built." It's been almost a year since President Obama rejected construction of the pipeline that would move oil from Alberta, Canada to U.S. refineries.  

At his annual energy speech, Jack Gerard, President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, described the state of American energy as one of more jobs, economic growth, and improved energy security.

[Watch the speech here.]

When it comes to coal-fired power plants, 2013 is much like 2012. EPA regulations are playing a key role in the closure of a number of Georgia power plants. Conn Carroll at the Washington Examiner writes:

This video of natural gas wells sprouting up like mushrooms across Pennsylvania is making the rounds of the blogosphere (both Mark Perry at AEI and Steven Hayward at Power Line link to it). We can thank shale energy for this burst of job-creating activity.

Over the weekend, President Obama laid out some priorities for his second term. One of them is energy:

You know, we've got a huge opportunity around energy. We are producing more energy and America can become an energy exporter. How do we do that in a way that also deals with some of the environmental challenges that we have at the same time?

We know that shale energy creates jobs--lots of them--even in states where there isn’t active oil and natural gas development.

A colleague of mine recently said, “If U.S. manufacturing cannot compete in the world, the U.S. cannot compete.”

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized rules that set emission limits for air pollutants from industrial boilers and process heaters used by a wide range of manufacturers. In addition, the EPA issued final rules for emission standards for cement plants and related solid waste incinerators. 

Raymond Keating, chief economist for the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council explains why exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) makes sense:

America has embarked on an energy revolution that will create millions of jobs, bring more manufacturing to the United States, reduce our reliance on foreign sources, and generate hundreds of billions in revenue and help reduce deficits. It’s an exciting future, and coal can and should play an important role.

Coal is our largest source of domestically produced energy. We’ve got some 263 billion short tons of recoverable coal, which is roughly a 234-year power supply at current consumption rates.

In a report on global trends through 2030, the National Intelligence Council estimates that oil and natural gas produced from shale and other unconventional sources will improve America’s energy security. ABC News reports:

I’m feeling all Martha Stewart. A government-commissioned study finds that exporting natural gas would be a good thing.

America’s energy boom shows no signs of letting up. The Energy Information Agency announced that September’s crude oil production reached 6.5 million barrels per day, the highest level since 1998.

Shale development in Texas and North Dakota using hydraulic fracturing is leading the way.

We have more evidence of the benefits from hydraulic fracturing and the natural gas produced from it, yet federal regulators continue their obsession with regulating it.

Innovation is helping increase American energy production. A prime example is hydraulic fracturing, which is the reason for oil and gas booms in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.

As work continues in Washington on avoiding the fiscal cliff, tax increases and automatic spending cuts set to hit the economy in January, two Congressmen sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) asking him to make domestic energy production part of the solution. Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT) and Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Steve Pearce (R-NM) wrote:

Natural gas is more than just fuel for ovens baking delicious Twinkies. It and oil produced from shale could be the catalyst for American manufacturing.

In the Wall Street Journal, Carlyle Group co-founder and co-CEO William E. Conway, Jr. writes that energy is one reason why he’s bullish on the United States:

This Thanksgiving, as American families count their blessings, we as a nation should also give thanks for what we have—an abundance of affordable, accessible, and safe energy. It could revitalize America’s economy, create millions of jobs, help reduce our deficit, and lessen our dependence on foreign sources.

A Washington Post story reports on billions of dollars in expected new investment because of increased natural gas production from shale:

The disconnect between the administration’s “All-of-the-Above” energy rhetoric and actual policy looks like it’ll continue now that President Obama was reelected. The Hill reports that the Interior Department plans to block 1.6 million acres of federal land from oil development:

Two former EPA administrators hope the President’s second term means more rules and regulations to tie down energy use and its production. Talk about bad ideas.

With the release of the final jobs report before the election, pundits are again turning their attention to the current state of employment in the United States. Do the numbers mean we are in an economic recovery or still in the throes of an economic downturn?  What implications does this have for the elections?

A stat in the October job numbers that popped out to me was the 9,000 mining jobs lost in one month. Lachlan Markay at The Heritage Foundation noted that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, mining jobs have decreased by 17,000 since May.

That means over half of those mining job losses happened in one month.

Yikes!

The EPA's war against coal and by extension, jobs, continues to roll on, with more and more companies announcing closures and layoffs. 

The EPA's vendetta against coal knows no bounds and defies all logic, according to the editorial board of The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register.

“With encouragement from President Barack Obama, the EPA has launched a no-holds-barred war on coal -regardless of who gets hurt in the process.”

The first two come from Energy Information Agency data.

Here's recent oil production:

And here's recent natural gas production:

Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for 21^st Century Energy (Energy Institute) talked to Fox Business about a new IHS report that found that 1.7 million jobs are being supported by shale oil and natural gas development this year with 3.5 million total jobs expected to be created by 2035.

Higher and volatile energy prices and a jump in U.S. import expenditures driven by the spike in the price of oil has made America’s energy security more fragile than ever.

The U.S. energy security risk rose to a record high score of 101.3 in 2011, according to the Energy Institute’s most recent Index of U.S. Energy Security Risk released today. It marks the second year in a row of rising risk and only the third year on record that the index registered a risk score of 100 or above since 1970.

Until a few years ago, only geologists would get excited about shale, but today this type of rock is the source of America’s energy boom benefiting states like Pennsylvania, Texas, and North Dakota. According to a new study, it’s generating millions of jobs right now with millions more to come. Bloomberg reports:

There’s a new Aquaman and Aqualad dynamic duo out there, but instead of fighting crimes, they are fighting cash-strapped cities and mayors, according to this item in the Wall Street Journal.

Anti-energy activists appear not to know when they’ve lost a battle.

The southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline, which will deliver crude oil from Oklahoma to Texas refineries, has won the support of President Obama (the president’s footdragging on the northern leg of the pipeline is another matter). The project has obtained permits from the Army Corps of Engineers. And it has withstood legal challenges in the Texas courts.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has suddenly developed a case of cold feet when it comes to one company’s plans to export natural gas.

In May, DOE approved the first new export permit in years, allowing Cheniere Energy to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the company's Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Southwest Louisiana.

But DOE recently announced that it needs more time to consider a Sierra Club complaint against Cheniere’s plans. The environmental group charges that a more stringent environmental impact assessment needs to be done. 

How well is the shale energy boom treating North Dakota? It’s unemployment rate is 3% (as of August 2012), they're producing over 700,000 barrels of oil daily, and as Al Martinez-Fonts, Senior Vice President of the National Chamber Foundation and Executive Vice President of the U.S.

It’s good to hear that America’s energy sector was mentioned prominently in Wednesday night's Presidential debate. It’s important to be reminded that this sector is the highlight of an otherwise dreary economy.

I bet you didn’t know it was National Energy Action Month. Until today, neither did I.

The American energy story over the last few years is innovation and technology creating jobs and improving America’s energy security, and it's working. In August, oil and gas jobs increased by nearly 12% from the year before due to natural gas and oil in North Dakota, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere being extracted with hydraulic fracturing.

Good news! The U.S. is at its highest in oil production since 1997. American Enterprise Institute’s Mark Perry writes:

The war on coal has claimed many casualties.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposed new rules on hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and natural gas on federal and Indian lands. I guess after watching EPA and the Department of Transportation go after shale energy, they wanted to get in on the action too.

In theory, there’s a huge amount of wind power available on the earth’s surface and even more so in the upper atmosphere. How much? Twenty-two hundred terawatts according to a new study. That's more than 100 times the power used by all humans right now.

National political conventions are moments once every four years when the two major parties let voters know where they stand on issues. In their platforms, both the Republicans and the Democrats mention the importance of energy to America’s economy and energy security, and they both use the words “All-of-the-Above” when talking about energy policy.

Energy happens to be one of the bright spots of the economy. Thank hydraulic fracturing for allowing energy companies to tap into America’s vast shale reserves and create jobs. Bloomberg reports:

“Insanity” has been defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The folks at the Environmental Protection Agency must not be up on that definition as they keep churning out one unlawful and burdensome rule after another—and federal courts keep striking them down.

California writer Steve Stein illustrates how environmental groups, of all people, make it hard to build renewable energy projects. In short, they generally love the idea of them powering America, but especially at the local level, they fight specific projects.

First, renewable energy projects have been lauded as the future of energy by some environmental groups. Stein writes:

Alaska wants in on the hottest play in American energy: shale.

It’s been a tough year in the courts for the EPA, according to an American Action Forum “scorecard” counting at least six job-killing-economy-slowing EPA regulatory actions that federal courts have struck down. We might add a seventh to AAF’s list – the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v.

What’s most visible from America’s shale boom is the increase in domestic oil and gas production and the energy jobs created. But let’s not ignore shale energy’s halo effect--economic benefits that occur because of the boom. Here are some examples.

Hotel construction in North Dakota is thriving [via Mark Perry]:

Historically, coal has been used more than any other fuel source to generate electricity in the U.S. For a long time, we’ve seen EPA anti-coal rules threaten the reliability of the electrical grid.

A new poll by Harris Interactive for the American Petroleum Institute (API) shows strong public support for energy development and its ability to create jobs and improve the economy.

The poll finds that 90% of voters believe more domestic energy development will lead to more jobs, more than seven in ten voters support more oil and natural gas development, and by more than a two-to-one margin (65% to 32%), voters oppose raising taxes on the oil and gas industry because they know that’ll hurt consumers.

Here are some other findings:

Don’t expect the shale oil and gas boom to slow down anytime soon. North Dakota is the number-2 oil-producing state (behind Texas), and the head of the state mineral department said they’ve only just begun to develop the Bakken Shale formation located there:

Here’s another example of a mixed message coming from the administration that touts an all-of-the-above energy policy

The Department of Transportation (DOT) recently reinterpreted a rule to go after trucks that deliver materials to oil and natural gas drilling sites that use hydraulic fracturing. The Washington Free Beacon reports:

The U.S.-Brazil energy partnership has the potential to foster energy security, economic growth, and job creation—priorities for both countries. Reflecting this shared vision, President Barack Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff last year launched the U.S.-Brazil Strategic Energy Dialogue (SED), a presidential-level mechanism to strengthen bilateral cooperation in this area.

We know shale energy has been booming across the country, but a new Energy Information Administration (EIA) report finds that unconventional energy development has driven an amount of growth in U.S. proven oil and natural gas reserves never seen in the history of the agency.

According to data recently compiled for 2010, proven oil reserves rose by 12.8%, and proven natural gas reserves rose by 12%.

The European Union (EU) wants to slap a new carbon emissions tax on airlines that fly into their airspace. Steve Eule, Vice President at the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for 21^st Century Energy points out the absurdity of this:

This past weekend, anti-energy activists marched in Washington, DC, to oppose hydraulic fracturing, the technology that has unleashed an oil and natural gas boom in the U.S. Judging from the speakers listed on the event’s website and the Washington Free Beacon’s report, it was more about scaring the public rather than offering a fair look at how shale energy is powering job creation, economic growth, and improved energy security.

Despite the hurdles this administration has put in front of the oil and gas industry, it leaps ahead in creating much-needed jobs. In 2011, it created nine percent of all new jobs.

The benefits from shale energy development extend beyond where the natural gas and oil are being extracted. Beyond Pennsylvania, Texas, and North Dakota, jobs are being created. A Youngstown, Ohio steel plant is making pipe for natural gas rigs. Chemical companies have more natural gas feedstock and can pass savings to other industries that use their products.

The Business Civic Leadership Center is holding The Role of Business in Environmental Innovation Working Meeting today and releasing a report. This post is cross-posted from BCLC’s blog.

A report from the Manhattan Institute’s Power and Growth Initiative sets the bar high for the potential from increased North American energy development. Author Mark Mills writes:

Expanding hydrocarbon production may be the single most important opportunity for near-term economic growth in North America and a beneficial resetting of energy geopolitics.

It’s pure speculation, but I think I know why former EPA regional administrator Al Armendariz visited the Sierra Club’s Washington, DC, offices on the same day he missed testifying before a House of Representative committee about his caught-on-video comment about “crucifying” oil and gas companies.

Job interview.

The Obama administration’s energy strategy can be best described as “All-of-the-Above” In Name Only (AINO), because they like saying “all-of-the-above” a lot while not actually employing all of our nation’s energy resources.

Congress passed the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) in 1980 to give small entities a voice in the federal rulemaking process. Put simply, the RFA requires federal agencies to assess the economic impact of a planned regulation on small entities, and if a rule is determined to have a “significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities,” (SEISNOSE), the agencies must consider alternatives that would lessen those impacts.  

Happy belated birthday to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (TAPS). On June 20, 1977, oil started flowing from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, Alaska.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) noted that TAPS has “delivered more than 16.6 billion barrels of oil” and “more than $171 billion in revenues to the state treasury.”

Stephen Hayward at AEI points to an Energy Information Agency report showing electricity production shifting from coal to natural gas.

Israel recently discovered world-class natural gas reserves off its coast, presenting a range of new possibilities for the country – economic, strategic, and political. This news presents the nation with an opportunity to strengthen its energy sector while introducing a new revenue stream. Since Israel does not have the infrastructure in place yet to access and refine its natural gas resources, it has turned to U.S. private sector expertise.

Energy is making North Dakota an economic success story. With the news last week that the state’s unemployment rate is an amazing 2.7%, local blogger, Rob Port, wrote, “Unlike every other state in the union, North Dakota doesn’t need to ‘create jobs.’ North Dakota needs to convince people to move here to take the jobs we have.”

How does EPA propose the most restrictive standards ever issued for particulate matter and claim that 99% of all U.S counties will be in attainment without any further action? 

Click to write your Senator to ask your member to stand with his/her constituents in support of American jobs and affordable, reliable electricity. --FreeEnterprise.com

Last month, Saudi Arabia announced plans to invest $109 billion in solar energy which would amount to a third of the Kingdom’s total power generation. Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, and Algeria have initiated decade-long energy plans that will allocate another $25-45 billion in combined investments in wind, solar, and nuclear energy to power 10-20% of their energy portfolios by 2020. They plan to sell the electricity generated through these clean energy projects to the European Union at a premium cost.

While President Obama has at various points professed his support for nuclear energy—a clean, efficient source of power-- his administration’s actions have at times belied that support.   One of the most obvious example is the Obama administration’s handling of nuclear waste.

The North Dakota oil boom continues to rely more on railroads to move oil out of the state. The Houston Business Journal reports [emphasis mine]:

Phillips 66 plans to buy as many as 2,000 railroad tank cars to ship oil from shale fields to its refineries, another indication that the shale boom is shaking up the U.S. energy industry, Reuters reports.

Al Armendariz, former EPA Regional Director who resigned after a video surfaced where he said oil and gas companies should be crucified, bailed on a House of Representatives hearing investigating EPA enforcement overreach.

Q: It seems everyone is talking nowadays about being “green”.  Other than recycling, what are some practical steps I can take to make my business more environmentally friendly?

When it comes to energy regulatory oversight, businesses are looking for a few general themes:

When EPA released its proposed greenhouse gas standard, I noted they pick winners and losers. Power plants fueled with natural gas won out over coal-fired.  Sen. James Inhofe's (R-OK) office released video of EPA Region 1 Administrator Carl Spalding at a conference earlier this year, confirming this.

After days of pain-staking research and talking to numerous sources, I was tipped off to the new viral video the Sierra Club plans to release:

Sources tell me this was the runner-up:

Here’s a real-world example of a regulatory agency’s bad decision that could send a chilling effect across the country.

In March, Sheldon Richman explained a run-in between EPA and Mingo Logan Coal Company, a subsidiary of Arch Coal, over the Spruce No. 1 mine in West Virginia:

Nick Akins is CEO of American Electric Power (AEP), one of the nation’s largest electricity generators with more than 38,000 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity, serving more than 5 million retail consumers in 11 states in the Midwest and South Central areas of the country.

Akins sat down with FreeEnterprise.com during a visit to the U.S. Chamber to discuss energy policy and innovation. (Scroll down or click here for video of the interview)

Free Enterprise recently interviewed Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman for a story on our upcoming Jobs Summit here at the Chamber on June 13.

Energy exports have been a highlight of our sputtering economy. In 2011, petroleum products were the top U.S. export, and coal exports have doubled since 2006. Environmental extremists hope to squash that success by blocking opportunities for continued energy exports.

If you didn’t catch this morning’s Driving the Day, you missed this Wall Street Journal editorial on the Sierra Club’s war on natural gas.

Stephen Hayward of the America Enterprise Institute looks at the recent boom in domestic natural gas production:

The administration honored 41 companies and organizations today at the White House for their contributions to increasing American exports.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) trotted out a report claiming oil and gas companies are dawdling around and not developing oil and gas leases on federal land.

A Pew poll taken in April found that 61% of voters listed energy as “very important," and in March, Rasmussen Reports found that 54% of likely voters said energy was a “very important” issue. With energy and gas prices on voters’ minds, the American Petroleum Institute (API) today released a report, 

FreeEnterprise.com gets results!

Hours after I posted on how coal was conspicuously missing from President Obama’s campaign energy infographic, “Clean Coal” magically appeared.

Was this coincidence?

UPDATE: The infographic has been updated to include "Clean Coal."

Here's a song to help President Obama who might be feeling lonely when it comes to the Keystone XL pipeline.  Rich Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, backs it, and Warren Buffett said, “It makes sense.”

Beating up on coal, America’s most-used source for electricity, wasn’t enough for the Sierra Club. They now declared war on natural gas. From National Journal :

The Sierra Club is intensifying its natural-gas reform campaign and renaming it “Beyond Gas,” a spin-off of its decade-old “Beyond Coal” campaign seeking the phaseout of coal-fired power plants.

Today, the U.S. Department of Interior released proposed regulations from the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) regarding well construction and hydraulic fracturing on federal and tribal lands.  These regulations are significant because they represent the first attempt by the federal government to regulate hydraulic fracturing. While these regulations appear to be less extreme than earlier leaked versions, they remain deeply troubling.

Monday feels like forever ago when Al Armendariz resigned as an EPA Regional Administrator after his “crucify” oil and gas company comment zipped around the internet. Today, both the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal tackle what his comments mean for the agency.

First the Washington Post’s editors:

Maria Tworek’s bar, the Brass Monkey Sports Bar in Omaha, NE, like every other small business, relies on electricity. As she puts it, if their coolers aren’t keeping the beer cold “we don’t make money. We have no business.”

Regulations

There is something sick about people who love to control other people with regulations. —Betty Hickman via Facebook

The AP reports that EPA Regional Administrator Al Armendariz resigned after taking heat for comments that he said his office’s philosophy was to “crucify” oil and gas companies:

Nick Akins grew up wanting to be a drummer in a rock-and-roll band.

So it’s no surprise that the head of  American Electric Power (AEP) dropped a few references to Bob Dylan and George Harrison during his speech at the U.S. Chamber. And, like the rock stars he once idolized, Akins spoke before a packed house of 500 attendees at the April 26 event co-hosted by the Institute for 21st Century Energy and the National Chamber Foundation.

Last night, Region 6 EPA Administrator Al Armendariz released an apology for comparing his agency regulating oil and gas companies to Roman centurions crucifying villagers:

UPDATE: Politico reports that YouTube took down the video clip.

We over here at Free Enterprise love salsa. A lot.

In fact, we even have a salsa company in the running to be our DREAM BIG: Small Business of the Year Award winner. (Good luck to all seven finalists!)

So when our friends over at America’s Power posted a YouTube video called “Salsa Todd,” our ears perked up.

The high price of gasoline is weighing heavily on small businesses these days. While small business owners may feel powerless at the pump, there are a number of things to do to reduce gasoline consumption.

Experts and opinion makers don’t think much of the administration going after oil speculators as a way to lower gas prices.

[Everything bolded is mine.]

Former commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Michael Dunn spoke with CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla:

Oilus Manipulatus: A unique species of financial creature that surfaces periodically, usually just before the summer travel season starts. It is said to have a unique ability to feed off of Ameicans’ wallets by boosting oil and gas prices. Its habitat is thought to be commodities trading pits in lower Manhattan and Chicago as well as in front of Bloomberg terminals in random metropolitan areas around the country.

With gas prices once again rapidly rising and with the International Energy Agency predicting that demand for energy could increase by nearly 50% by 2035, you might assume that the Obama Administration would jump at the chance to bring hundreds of years of homegrown oil online.

Your assumption would be wrong.

Here’s an update on my post from last week on the Interior Department backing a drilling permit process they previously opposed. In a story about the administration taking undeserved credit for domestic oil and gas production increases, the Washington Free Beacon asked the Interior Department about their change of heart:

President Obama is traveling to Colombia for this weekend’s Summit of the Americas. U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue is already in Colombia at the first-ever CEO Summitt of the Americas and made the case for closer economic ties in the hemisphere:

Brian Beutler at Talking Points Memo can’t understand why anyone could complain about the administration’s actions toward oil and gas producers. He posts a chart showing the number of people employed in the oil and gas industry going up.

How could anyone have problems with our current energy policy?

I'm having a strange bedfellows moment. Both a labor union leader and the Wall Street Journal editorial page agree on something: EPA's proposed greenhouse gas rule is a job-killer.

Vice President Joe Biden told a Norfolk, VA reporter, “I think our energy policy’s the best it’s ever been.”

Really? The best it has ever been in the 235-year history of the United States? Nothing, no other moment has ever been better than right now?

Uh, I don't think so.

Here are the top five reasons why this isn’t the Best. Energy. Policy. Ever!

Today in North Dakota, Secretary Salazar announced that the Interior Department would automate the approval process of applications for permits to drill (APDs).

Are we coming upon a nuclear energy renaissance? Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) thinks so. Last Friday afternoon, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced that they approved licenses for two nuclear reactors in South Carolina.

It’s been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad few weeks for EPA. First, multiple federal courts--including the Supreme Court--have smacked down EPA for overreach and “magical thinking.” Then today, the agency reversed a fifteen-month-old order that blamed Fort Worth, Texas-based Range Resources for contaminating drinking water with methane as the result of hydraulic fracturing.

Some people in Washington are trapped in the 1980s and treat legislation like it’s a cassette tape. If a bill doesn't go over well the first time, they hit “rewind” and try again.

Louisiana's oil and gas industry supports a tremendous number of direct and indirect jobs, is the fourth-largest producer of crude oil and is one of the nation's top producers of natural gas.

However, the current legal environment in Louisiana is harming the oil and gas industry and the state economy due to legacy lawsuits -- suits seeking a financial windfall for alleged environmental damage claims by certain landowners. Such lawsuits are unique to Louisiana, and discourage oil and gas exploration and production. But it doesn't stop there.

What is the future of U.S. manufacturing?
It is growing stronger but will not reach the percentage of our total economy or employ as many people as it once did 48%
It is in decline, unable to compete globally 43%
It is poised for a complete recovery, recalling its glory days from decades ago 6%
Don’t know 3%

How concerned are you that rising gasoline prices will stall the economic recovery?
Very concerned  86%
Somewhat concerned  10%
Not concerned   4%

THE ECONOMY

Unfortunately, for those of us unemployed or underemployed, the economy remains quite bad right now. Some who have been lucky enough to find full-time employment have found it in a field of work far different from their intended life’s work, such as people with a master’s degree or a bachelor’s degree in business or any other field of study finding full-time work as delivery truck drivers and that sort of thing to pay the bills as they continue to seek something in their field.—Francesco M. DiGiovanni [via Facebook]

If you thought Utility MACT, A.K.A. the "Blackout Rule" was bad, get a load of this. Today, EPA dropped a greenhouse gas rule that could cost jobs and hurt the reliability of the electricity grid.

In a string of unrelated but equally remarkable cases, in the last week three, separate federal courts – including the U.S. Supreme Court – have taken the EPA to task for regulatory overreach. We’ve already blogged about Sackett v. EPA and Mingo Logan Coal v. EPA. In the most recent of these cases – decided yesterday – the U.S.

Today a U.S. federal court shut down yet another effort by EPA to use-and-abuse the Clean Water Act as a regulatory sledgehammer. The court ruled that EPA did not have authority under the Clean Water Act to essentially “veto” a fill permit lawfully issued by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Today, the President’s energy tour/campaign event stopped in Cushing, Oklahoma. Standing in front of a pile of pipes, he announced that he ordered his administration to “expedite” the southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline.

This administration must have a dark sense of humor, because today the President visits an oil and gas field on federal land in New Mexico. This is happening despite the fact that oil and gas production on federal and Indian lands has gone down.

We are missing an energy opportunity. While American oil and gas production in total is rising, an Energy Information Agency (EIA) report released earlier this week finds that it's going in the opposite direction on federal and Indian lands:

I want to go back to this infographic the White House released along with their energy progress report earlier this week. There’s an glib mention that “oil companies are receiving about $7,610 a minute in tax breaks. That’s $4 billion a year.”

Maybe progress is being made. Energy Secretary Steven Chu walked back from his 2008 comment about wanting gas prices to be as high as in Europe. Politico reports:

High gas prices have become the hot political issue.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when Jay Carney created an alternate universe and told the White House press corps that “the President didn't turn down the Keystone pipeline”? He blamed partisan politics for the denial of the permit that would link Gulf Coast refineries to Canadian shale oil.

Americans use a lot of electricity, and our appetite for it isn't diminishing. From televisions to air conditioners to computers to refrigerators to smart phones, Americans expect their stuff to work anytime they put a plug into a wall socket or flip a light switch.

Yesterday, the Washington Times wrote an editorial on the war on coal:

High gas prices have garnered the attention of leaders in Washington. This past weekend, the President talked about energy development in his weekly address, and the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) covered energy in the Republican address [see above].

The President delivered another energy speech today, and populism trumped sound economics. Along with taking undeserved credit for expanding oil and gas production (more on that in a bit), the President told Congress they should vote “in the next few weeks” to raise taxes on oil and gas companies.

Raising taxes will improve energy security? Economic analysis doesn’t say so.

Yesterday, GenOn Energy, the third-largest U.S. independent power producer, announced they were shutting down power plants, because "forecasted returns on investments necessary to comply with environmental regulations are insufficient." That's financial-speak for "Regulations make it too costly to keep them running."

When this administration talks about an "all-of-the-above" energy strategy it's more about uttering words than taking real action.

Last week in a major energy speech in Miami, President Obama talked about the worries he's heard from Americans about rising gas prices:

I hope they get this moving soon! Good to see Congress is standing up for Americans while our administration is busy trying to destroy us.—Christy Bartholomew (via www.FreeEnterprise.com)

All this would be fine if the pipe wasn’t made in China. Think about how many jobs this would have created. But I do agree we need the pipeline! I just hope they don’t sell the oil to China! Seems to me this is the idea!—mlong119 (via www.FreeEnterprise.com)

TransCanada announced today that it will go ahead and build a portion of the Keystone XL pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to oil refineries in the Gulf Coast, bypassing the State Department permitting process that has stopped development of the pipeline to Canadian shale oil in Alberta.

Prior to President Obama’s address on energy yesterday, we outlined three major things that he should say that would improve our energy security.   We called on him to approve the Keystone XL pipeline permit immediately, abandon his focus on raising taxes on oil companies, and reinstate plans to allow for more offshore exploration which his Administration has taken off the table.

John Meyer isn’t involved in the oil or gas industry. He doesn’t own a pipeline or construction business. But as the owner of Office Products Center in Winner, South Dakota, Meyer knows that his state needs jobs, and that the influx of workers and dollars generated by the Keystone XL pipeline expansion from Canada to the Gulf Coast would energize his state and region.

Today in Miami, President Obama will deliver an energy speech intended to address growing concerns over high fuel prices. 

According to reports, the President will once again try to take credit for an uptick in domestic oil and natural gas production this year, even though his Administration has nothing to do with the lease sales that were made years ago and the investments made on private lands that contributed to last year’s improvement. 

Yeah, Ace of Spades is right: "Orwell wept."

It's all because White House spokesman Jay Carney had the audacity to say, "the President didn't turn down the Keystone pipeline" even though that's exactly what he did.

I wonder if Carney would've let a White House flack get away with that when he was writing for Time magazine? I know, trick question.

At CPAC, I spoke with Charles Drevna, president of American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, about the need for the Keystone XL pipeline.

He said we'll miss out on "a shovel-ready project" that would "immediately provide 20,000 jobs with the prospects of another" 100,000 jobs by moving 700,000 barrels of Canadian oil per day to "feed multiple refineries in the Gulf Coast."

For those of a certain age, 1978 triggers flashbacks to disco, Farrah Fawcett, and the Bee Gees. That year was also the last time the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a license for the construction of a new nuclear power reactor in the United States. Until now.

Today, the NRC announcement that it has approved a license for the construction of two new nuclear reactors at Georgia’s Power Plant Vogtle.

In its latest survey of economics bloggers, the Kauffman Foundation found that a majority of respondents have a more optimistic view of the economy. However, they see the federal government as too involved in the economy and think energy should be a top priority.

The administration went from issuing an offshore drilling moratorium in 2010 to bragging about offshore lease sales. What it’s not touting are long permitting delays.

The administration's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline isn’t holding back Congress. Efforts in the Senate and House of Representatives are moving ahead to allow construction of the energy infrastructure project.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is on a mission to sell Canadian oil. The administration's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline isn't stopping him from hunting for new customers. Next month, he'll visit China to talk with leaders.

Richard Waugh, chief executive officer of Bank of Nova Scotia told Bloomberg:

EPA's Utility MACT, A.K.A. the Blackout Rule, hit more power plants, costing more jobs. The latest victims are more than 500 workers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Maryland:

Today in Las Vegas, the President repeated his energy talking points from Tuesday's State of the Union speech.

Robert Samuelson sure wasn't pleased with the President's decision to not issue a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, calling it "an act of insanity." I bet he won't be any happier after reading the news that North Dakota producers who plann

Like clockwork, every year around this time some policymakers resurrect one of the more egregiously bad policy proposals out there—a windfall profits tax on oil companies. 

The latest form comes by way of legislation to create a so-called “Reasonable Profits Board,” introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and five other House Democrats.

As the Heritage Foundation documents, over three years of study took place on the Keystone XL pipeline, yet the project won't move ahead. Business, union, and political leaders from both parties spoke out strongly against President Obama's decision to not issue a permit.

U.S. Chamber Senior Political Strategist Scott Reed, a veteran of Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign, recently teamed up with the Rob Engstrom, Chamber Senior Vice President of Political Affairs & Federation Relations, to lead the U.S. Chamber’s voter education program. FreeEnterprise.com sat down with Reed to talk about the 2012 elections.

FreeEnterprise.com: What brought you to the U.S. Chamber for the 2012 elections? 

Expanding America's energy options was the theme of American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard's State of American Energy speech. In it, he laid out two benefits from increased American energy development: more jobs and improved state economies.

America is getting a two-fer from the North Dakota energy boom: it's increasing our energy security while helping the Arizona housing market that was hit hard by the recession:

Is it just me, or does it seem like EPA regulators are writing new rules in an alternate reality? Maybe it’s a gravity-free zone in which the burden of a growing federal bureaucracy doesn’t weigh down the economy, or where the uncertainty of overregulation isn’t a drag on job creation.

In light of an AP analysis of the Blackout Rule, A.K.A. Utility MACT, showing that across the country more than 32 power plants will be shut down, over 500 power plants will be "idled temporarily in the next few years," and 14.7 gigawatts of electricity generation will be taken offline, I've put together my list of the top five "Blackout" songs.

Hydraulic fracturing, a technique used for decades to safely extract energy out of the ground, has turned parts of the United States into boom towns with jobs created and businesses thriving.

All Clark Griswold wanted was to add some Christmas cheer to his home. He spent days stringing thousands of lights up and down his house and jury-rigging extension cords into outlets just to brighten up the holiday. Sure, his family didn't appreciate it, but he tried. Rolling blackouts because of Utility MACT, A.K.A.

As we’ve discussed several times in this space, President Obama’s move to delay a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline will cost America thousands of jobs in the near term that would have otherwise been created.   But in addition to that missed opportunity, the Administration’s action is actually already costing existing jobs.

Economist Mark Perry put together a chart showing how the percentage of net oil imports as a share of U.S. consumption has been decreasing since 2005.

In the Wall Street Journal, THE energy guru, Daniel Yergin, points out that one part of the explanation is decreased oil consumption, but another part is the increase in onshore energy development:

The "Blackout Rule," A.K.A.Utility MACT, is the most expensive EPA rule in history. If enacted too soon, it threatens the U.S. energy supply, will cost jobs, and raise electricity rates. The Chamber is running this ad on network and cable television asking Americans to tell President Obama that more time is needed to get the job done right.

by John Meyer

NOTE: John Meyer , owner of Office Products Center, in Winner, SD, gives us his perspective on what the Keystone XL Pipeline project would mean to his state.

As a small business owner of over 30 years and the former President of the South Dakota Retailers Association, I understand what it takes to create jobs.  That’s why I joined the Partnership to Fuel America, an initiative of the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy.

EPA is about to unveil the costliest rule in its history—and the Chamber is leading an effort to make sure the business community’s voice is heard.  By December 16^th, EPA is scheduled to release the Utility MACT rule, which could cause significant electricity reliability constraints that would have a ripple effect throughout our economy if implemented on its currently-scheduled timeline.

NOTE: Once again, the U.S. Chamber is well represented at the U.N. climate change talks in Durban, South Africa, by the Energy Institute’s Steve Eule.  Steve’s been working to ensure that the business community has a seat at the table during international negotiations.  Here’s his update on how the COP has progressed so far:

Charlie Sheen has nothing on Transwestern when it comes to winning. $200,000 a year and 250 workers! That’s the savings annually to Transwestern for making their Washington, DC, building more energy efficient; and the amount of jobs created in doing so.  It’s a win-win-win: energy efficiency, savings on the bottom line, jobs created.

Debate heated up on Capitol Hill over the fate of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Now that the Obama administration has chosen to delay the pipeline, Congress has stepped in.

Yesterday, a federal district judge summarily rejected an effort by the EPA to censor evidence of how the Agency's (latest) power grab could hurt the economy. Let's call this one a win for the good guys - at least for now. 

In the video clip below, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson lays out what she perceives to be EPA's role in the economy. She told energyNow! [emphasis mine], "What EPA's role is to do is to level the playing field so that pollution costs are not exported to the population but rather companies have to look at the pollution potential of any fuel or any process or any plant or any utility when they're making their investment decisions."

Despite what Sen. Reid said on the Senate floor today that there isn't a "single shred of evidence" that regulations hurt the economy, former Democratic Senator and Governor of Indiana, Evan Bayh reminds us in an Evansville Courier Press op-ed this week that bad implementation of regulations do indeed threaten jobs:

The ad above the Chamber started running today in major national newspapers make plain and clear that Keystone XL is about JOBS. SECURITY. NOW.

More U.S. imported oil should come from Canada. That’s what 79% of registered voters said in a poll conducted by Harris Interactive for the American Petroleum Institute.

The poll also found 80% said they thought the federal government policies should allow pipelines to transport Canadian oil into the U.S.

The Chamber’s President and CEO Tom Donohue will appear on  ABC News’ This Week with one simple message: We can create jobs immediately.  Contrary to the conventional wisdom that Washington is “broken” or that “nothing will get done before Election Day,” Tom and the Chamber understand that there are things we can do to create milli

I recently visited Banff, Canada to speak about energy policy at the Global Business Forum, and I was reminded of an arresting statistic. In June, more jobs were created in the province of Alberta than in the entire United States. How? Canada is embracing its vast natural resources and expanding its role as an energy super power.

America needs to take some decisive steps of its own.

Energy
We consume the same amount of energy whether we produce it from here or import it from areas of the world that are politically less stable. We have to realize and keep in the forefront of our minds that almost half a trillion dollars is leaving our nation every year in the form of foreign petroleum purchases. We have to make the effort to become self-sufficient before things get worse.—Sofia, Houston, TX

This ad running this week in national newspapers including the Wall Street Journal and USA Today is part of the Chamber's nationwide print, online, and social media ad blitz to rally its members, grassroots supporters, and the public around six steps Washington can take to create millions of new jobs.

Zero.

That was the number many Americans were talking about during the unofficial final weekend of summer, because that was the number of net jobs created in August.

Zero isn't so much a number as the absence of one. It's a void, a hole. Our economy is in a hole with millions of people unemployed, and millions more who have given up looking for work.

The White House has once again signaled that it is pivoting back to jobs, and President Obama will reportedly give a “major speech” on job creation in September. Here at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where we remain sharply focused on job creation, it is a welcome move. But for the president’s pivot to be meaningful, it needs to be followed by a big step back from onerous regulatory proposals that would kill millions of jobs with no proven benefits to offset this hurt.

We all feel the pain of rising oil prices—when we ship goods by truck or plane and when we fill up at the gas pump. U.S. families and businesses spent more than $900 billion on refined oil products in 2008.

Not only is our dependence on foreign oil expensive, it’s also risky. Too often, oil dependence requires us to accommodate hostile governments that share neither our values nor our goals, making both the United States and its allies vulnerable.

Yesterday at America’s Small Business Summit, a trio of U.S. Chamber senior executives weighed in on three issues that are keeping small business owners up at night.

Stalled Energy Projects

There is a phrase in the bill of rights that says “pursuit of happiness.” What does that truly mean? Seems it means the ability to stop others from “pursuit of their happiness.” I can understand people not wanting an eyesore in their backyards, but they are the first to complain about high energy costs.—Joe Kostelac, Kansas City, MO

It’s beginning to feel like 2008 again. In the summer of that year, gas prices reached all-time highs, digging the economy deeper into recession. Because Congress failed to address our fundamental energy problems then, it consigned Americans to a future of erratic energy prices.

Today, with unrest in North Africa and the Middle East riling the markets and crude oil prices at historic highs, gas prices are again on the rise, threatening to steer our economic recovery off course.

At the April 15, 2011 Chamber Special Briefing Series, energy storage technology was discussed by Eric Hsieh, who is the Regulatory Affairs Manager for A123 Systems, where he promotes policy reforms that bring storage benefits to electricity users and markets. Previously, he was the Government Relations Manager at the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, where he supported advanced transmission technologies as solutions for climate, economic, and security challenges.

What exactly is Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE)? Is it more than just chargers but also energy management? What might be EVSE’s impact on transportation; on the electricity grid, and on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions?

This past weekend, the House passed its continuing resolution to fund the government for the remainder of 2011.  Environmental groups promptly declared the end of the world as we know it (here, here, here, here

The U.S. Chamber believes that economic growth and environmental progress go hand in hand, and that responsible business and environmental leaders can work together to grow our economy and preserve the planet.