American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act Reforms Needed to Help Address Rising Gas Prices

Gas prices are heading back up to $4 or more per gallon, with huge price increases expected in some areas, according to a new USA Today report.  House Republicans are taking action with the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act that will remove government barriers to American energy production to help address gas prices and create jobs.  The House Natural Resources Committee has already passed portions of the bill that will end President Obamas de facto moratorium on American energy and create 1.2 million jobs.  Here are some of the details:

• The Obama Administrations de facto moratorium on American energy production in the Gulf and other areas has reduced American energy production, driven up gas prices and cost thousands of jobs.  The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act ends the president’s policies that are hurting the economy by requiring lease sales in the most resource-rich offshore areas, including lease sales that have been delayed or cancelled in the Gulf of Mexico, Virginia and Alaska. 

• The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act opens less than three percent of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) an area set aside by President Carter for oil and gas exploration to energy production.  According to the Natural Resources Committee, ANWR contains approximately 10.4 billion barrels of oil and at peak production could supply the U.S. with up to 1.45 million barrels of oil per day.

• U.S. oil shale resources are estimated to be six times the amount of Saudi Arabias proven oil reserves.  The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act opens up new areas of the Rocky Mountains to oil shale research and development, and creates more regulatory certainty to encourage investment in oil shale which has been hampered by red tape and needless delays by the Obama Administration. 

Last year, American families and small businesses bore the brunt of skyrocketing gas prices, as our economy suffered from the historically high premium paid for gasoline.  The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act will stop the Obama Administration policies that have kept American resources under lock and key causing the economy to forgo the creation of thousands of jobs and hurting private-sector growth. 

Congressman John Boehner (R-West Chester) has also said that approval of the Keystone XL pipeline which will create 20,000 American jobs and pump an estimated 830,000 barrels of oil to U.S. refineries will be included in theAmerican Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act if it is not approved before then.  The House Energy & Commerce Committee will begin following through on that commitment with a vote tomorrow on legislation requiring approval of the pipeline, which will become part of the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act once it is approved by the committee.  

Follow the action House Republicans are taking to address rising gas prices and create jobs by boosting American energy on the American Energy Initiative Facebook page, and learn more about the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act at speaker.gov/energy.