API: Cleaner Energy Benefits Environment and Economy

API urged policymakers to consider the proven environmental and economic benefits of America’s oil and natural gas industry when weighing the risks claimed by opponents of U.S. energy production.

“It is no coincidence that U.S. carbon emissions have dropped to near 20-year lows, while U.S. shale gas production had quadrupled since 2008,” said API President and CEO Jack Gerard. “America’s oil and natural gas industry has led an energy renaissance that is helping to grow the economy, create jobs, and provide environmental benefits.” he adds.

Gerard further says: “America is now the world’s leading producer of clean-burning natural gas, demonstrating that economic prosperity and environmental progress are not mutually exclusive. In fact, from 2000 to 2012, America’s oil and natural gas industry invested more in zero- and low-emissions technologies than the federal government and nearly as much as all other industries combined. These research and development efforts drive America’s competitiveness and could produce technologies that will change the energy landscape across markets and geography. But America’s success as an energy superpower depends on an all-of-the-above strategy, where science and free markets determine investments — not politics and ideology.”

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Press Release, June 25, 2014; Image: API