API praises US House bill to restart US offshore leasing, calls for more domestic production
American Petroleum Institute executive vice president Marty Durbin said he supports the House Natural Resources Committee’s efforts to focus on the need to produce more of America’s oil and natural gas resources, which would create more jobs for workers and more revenue for government, the API says.
“This effort is the first to directly focus on America’s vast resources, which will go a long way to supporting our government and American jobs,” said Durbin.
“The president has encouraged more oil and natural gas development in Brazil and Saudi Arabia,” he continued. “We need the focus to be on what we can do here at home, and greater access is critical.
“Proposals to increase taxes on our industry were a bad idea during the last Congress, and are a bad idea today. More taxes are a sure way to lower American investments, hurt American jobs, and eventually reduce federal revenue. The legislation turns the focus on what we can do in America for America by Americans.”
A tax hike similar to what the administration and some in Congress have proposed would diminish revenue to the government by billions of dollars while also costing jobs and energy production, according to a recent study by the international consulting group Wood Mackenzie.
“Raising taxes on oil and natural gas companies would do nothing to lower gasoline prices,” Durbin also pointed out. “It would, however, punish millions of American retirees invested in state pension funds and the tens of millions of Americans who hold stock through mutual funds, IRAs and individual investments.
“We have the opportunity to create over a million new American jobs and deliver trillions more to the federal treasury,” he added. “But, we need to keep investing in America’s companies and its people. HR 1230, the Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act, is a big step in the right direction.”
The House passed the HR 1230 and is expected to vote this week on HR 1229.
The oil and natural gas industry congratulates Chairman Hastings and House members for voting in favor of the bill, the API said.
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