The Problem
- 14 million Americans are without work. One in six Americans cannot find a full-time job.
- The Obama Administration is intent on shutting down domestic energy production through over-regulation, excess litigation and bureaucratic intimidation.
- If the President’s job-killing bureaucratic rules take effect, America will lose 2.4 million jobs by 2020 – doubling the total job losses we’ve already experienced on Obama’s watch.
The Perry Approach
Perry is rolling out a broad package of economic reforms to rebuild the American economy. This energy, jobs and security plan is the first part of that package. The other parts – tax reform, entitlement reform, and spending cuts – will be announced in a matter of days.
- The Perry plan to energize American jobs and security will create 1.2 million American jobs across all economic sectors, decrease dependence on foreign oil, and contain electricity and fuel costs for families and employers.
- The Perry plan is based on a simple premise: Make what Americans buy. Buy what Americans make. And sell it to the world.
- The Perry plan is unique because several key points don’t require Congress to act. Much can be accomplished through immediate executive action in the first 100 days.
- It will open domestic oil & gas fields for exploration, eliminate activist regulations, reduce & refocus federal regulators, and level the playing field for all energy producers.
The Perry Plan
1) Open oil & gas fields for exploration by executive action.
- Alaska: Begin off-shore exploration to create 55,000 jobs. Open the National Petroleum Reserve to create 20,000 jobs, and work with Congress to open the ANWR Coastal Plain to create 100,000 jobs.
- Gulf of Mexico: Resume pre-Obama levels of exploration to create 230,000 jobs.
- West: Open federal & private lands for exploration. Western states can produce more energy than our imports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Venezuela and Russia combined.
- North-East: Continue development of the Marcellus Shale to create 250,000 jobs.
- Cross-Nation: Support construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to create 20,000 jobs.
- Deficit Reduction: Work with Congress to reallocate revenue streams from energy production on federal lands, putting new federal revenues towards deficit reduction.
2) Eliminate activist regulations on the books and under consideration by Obama Administration.
New rules under consideration will kill 2.4 million jobs by 2020 and raise costs by $127 billion.
- Review regulations at EPA and all agencies and perform a cost-benefit analysis.
- Remove EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gasses. This authority was given to the EPA under a controversial ruling by a federal court, without the approval of Congress.
3) Reduce, Rebuild & Refocus the regulatory bureaucracy
- Work with Congress to dismantle EPA in its current state and rebuild a scaled down agency focused on regional and cross-state issues that individual states can’t handle themselves.
- Return regulatory authority to the states to manage air and water quality, rather than imposing one-size-fits-all federal rules.
4) Level the playing field for all energy producers
- Ask Congress to eliminate direct subsidies and tax credits that distort the energy marketplace, phasing them out to allow time for the market to adjust.
- Preserve industry-wide tax incentives for R&D that encourage private investment in emerging technology without favoring any sector or producer.
- End the Obama Administration’s agenda-driven policy of hostility towards coal and natural gas, which provide roughly two-thirds of American electricity.
The Choice
- It is a false choice to say we must pick either Energy or the Environment. It’s time for a balanced, pro-America energy policy.
- The real choice is between Perry’s vision and the president’s. Obama would kill millions of jobs. Perry would create more than a million jobs.
- Obama would keep us dependent on hostile foreign energy sources. Perry would tap America’s energy potential to make us more secure.
- Obama’s policies are driven by liberal activists. Perry’s policies are driven by the concerns of American workers without jobs.
- Creating jobs is as simple as changing presidents.
Gov. Rick Perry
Energizing American Jobs and Security
U.S. Steel Mon Valley Irvin Plant
Pittsburgh
October 14, 2011
prepared remarks
Thank you for joining me today. I want to say a special thanks to Jim Garraux and the men and women of US Steel for having us here today. It is great to be on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, a city built on the work, hopes and dreams of blue-collar American workers.
The central issue facing Americans is a lack of jobs.
Fourteen million Americans are without work. One in six Americans cannot find a full-time job. Forty-five million Americans are on food stamps. And 48 percent of American households have at least one resident receiving government benefits.
Though our president has labeled Americans as soft, I believe our people have toughed it out the best they can. But they are looking for leadership and optimism, which are all too rare in Washington today.
What I am proposing today is the first part of an economic growth package that will rebuild the engine of American prosperity.
The plan I present this morning, Energizing American Jobs and Security, will kick-start economic growth and create 1.2 million jobs.
It can be implemented quicker and free of Washington gridlock because it doesn’t require congressional action. Through a series of executive orders, and other executive actions, we will begin the process of creating jobs soon after the inauguration of a new president.
There is, of course, an important role for Congress to play. And in a matter of days I will offer to the American people a broader package of economic reforms that I will take to Congress when I am elected President. My complete economic growth package will tackle tax reform, entitlement reform and real spending reductions in order to address our growing debt crisis.
But today I offer a plan that will create more than a million good, American jobs across every sector of the economy and enhance our national security, and the best news is it can be set in motion in my first 100 days.
My plan is based on this simple premise: Make what Americans buy, buy what Americans make, and sell it to the world.
We are standing atop the next American economic boom…energy.
The quickest way to give our economy a shot in the arm is to deploy American ingenuity to tap American energy. But we can only do that if environmental bureaucrats are told to stand down.
My plan will break the grip of dependence we have today on foreign oil from hostile nations like Venezuela and unstable nations in the Middle East to grow jobs and our economy at home.
America has proven but untapped supplies of natural gas, oil and coal. America is the Saudi Arabia of coal with 25 percent of the world’s supply. Our country contains up to 134 billion barrels of oil and nearly 1.2 quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas.
We have the resources we need to fuel our cars, our homes and our power plants. They can be found in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, New Mexico, Alabama, Kentucky throughout the American West and, of course, Alaska.
But President Obama and his over-reaching Environmental Protection Agency won’t allow American businesses and American labor to draw on even a fraction of this domestic energy from reserves on government-owned lands.
On one hand, the Obama Administration opposes fossil fuel development at home, and then on the other hand encourages countries like Brazil to drill offshore and sell it to American consumers, creating foreign jobs and foreign profits
That’s wrong. That’s hypocritical. That’s unfair. America should not be, and when I am president will not be, held hostage by foreign oil and federal bureaucrats.
The American economy should not be beaten into the ground when greater energy independence and lower energy costs lie right under American soil.
My plan will create jobs in every sector, revitalize manufacturing, and contain the cost of electricity and fuel through four concrete actions.
First, we will open several American oil and gas fields for exploration that are currently off limits because of political considerations. The current administration has restricted exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and the mid-Atlantic.
In the Gulf of Mexico, the median time for review of permits for combined deepwater exploration and development has increased 400 percent, while deepwater exploration and development plan approvals have dropped by nearly 80 percent.
The Department of Interior has stopped off-shore exploration off the coast of Virginia over the objections of the Virginia congressional delegation, which has passed a bill in the House to achieve the will of their people. That bill is also supported by their Democratic senators, Webb and Warner.
With a series of executive orders and other executive actions, I will authorize the following:
I will work to open up Alaska’s abundant resources to oil and gas exploration, including the ANWR Coastal Plain and the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska. In this one instance, we will need congressional authorization. But it is worth it when you consider we will create 120,000 jobs.
We will initiate off-shore exploration in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off the northern and western coasts of Alaska. This will create 55,000 jobs.
We will resume pre-Obama levels of exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and create another 230,000 jobs.
I will support the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to take Canadian Crude to coastal refineries, which would create 20,000 direct jobs for American workers.
We will begin tapping the energy potential of the American West, opening up federal and private lands for exploration in states like Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Colorado and Utah. Collectively, our western states have the potential to produce 1.3 million barrels of oil per day by 2020 and contain 87 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
They can produce more energy than what we import from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Venezuela and Russia combined!
And right here in Pennsylvania, and across the state line in West Virginia and Ohio, we will tap the full potential of the Marcellus Shale and create another 250, 000 jobs by getting the EPA out of the way. While Marcellus shale is today’s opportunity, the deeper Utica shale formations offer equally vast potential with more jobs over the horizon for Pennsylvania and its neighbors.
The benefits of the boom in American natural gas production are also demonstrated in manufacturing and production. We see that right here at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works Plant that employs more than three thousand workers, many of whom make the steel products other companies use to develop the Marcellus Shale today.
The face of manufacturing in industrial states has changed rapidly. Natural gas exploration is a game-changer that can bring new opportunities to replace the ones that have been lost. Development of natural gas will create jobs in the supply chain and lead to lower energy costs for manufacturers.
Western Pennsylvania is known for producing great quarterbacks I want Western Pennsylvania to Quarterback a new energy revolution that creates jobs all across America.
Not only will we create jobs by expanding energy exploration, we will use the revenues generated to pay down the deficit.
At the same time, where America has ecological treasures, like the Everglades or Yellowstone National Park, we will not explore for energy.
As we roll back federal control, we seek greater cooperation with the states. And if states oppose energy exploration, we will respect that decision. But these instances represent the exception, not the rule.
It is equally important that we take a second step: eliminate activist regulations already on the books and under consideration by the Obama Administration.
While President Obama has been very public about his newest jobs proposal, behind the scenes the permanent bureaucracy is working to grind the economy to a halt in pursuit of activist regulations. A raft of new rules and foot-dragging by the EPA and Interior Department are killing job creation.
Examples include the Utility Maximum Available Control Technology rule, the Boiler MACT rule, the Cross State Air Pollution Rule, the proposed Coal Combustion Residuals regulation and Section 316 (b) of the Clean Water Act.
These new rules alone could destroy up to 2.4 million American jobs by 2020 and add $127 billion in costs to electric providers and consumers. Under my plan, each of these rules would be subject to an immediate review with a cost-benefit analysis to determine the impact on American employers and the environment.
If we face the facts, we know that none of these rules were needed to reduce emissions of the six principal pollutants by 50 percent since 1980. And they are not needed now, especially as our economy hangs in a fragile balance between recovery and recession.
I will take another step important to economic growth: I will stop the EPA’s draconian measures related to the regulation of greenhouse gases.
When you consider that any carbon reduction will be offset by the increase of carbon emissions by developing nations like China and India, the EPA would tie our economy in knots and advantage our global competitors while realizing no global environmental benefits in the process.
The third part of my plan is to reform the bureaucracy, in particular the EPA, so that it focuses on regional and cross-state issues, providing scientific research, as well as environmental analysis and cost-comparison studies to support state environmental organizations. We will return greater regulatory authority to the states to manage air and water quality rather than imposing one-size-fits-all federal rules.
I reject the notion that Washington is more committed to environmental stewardship than state and local officials who must live with the consequences of their own environmental policies.
The fourth component of my plan is to level the competitive playing field among all energy producers.
As the governor of the nation’s leading producer of wind energy, I clearly believe there is an important role for green sources of energy as a part of our generation mix. The fact is, every energy producer receives incentives and subsidies that cost taxpayers and distort the marketplace.
My plan will stop the practice of Washington writing subsidy checks to any and all sectors of the energy industry. It will also stop industry-specific tax credits, phasing out both over a period of time, allowing the market time to adjust.
We will, however, preserve tax incentives for research and development.
We believe the best way to invest in emerging technology is to allow private industry the freedom to develop it. The shocking reality concerning Obama energy policy is high energy prices are not an accident, but intentional.
From an energy secretary who said he wanted European prices for fuel, to a president who said it was necessary to raise the price of electricity, this Administration has intentionally sought to make conventional generation from coal and natural gas more costly, taking more out of the pockets of American families.
And the reason why is they want to drive consumers to green energy. But we don’t produce enough green energy to fill the void, so the result is greater reliance on foreign sources of energy.
Increasing the use of green energy is a laudable goal. We have done it successfully in my state. But we have used renewable sources to expand the energy supply not replace conventional generation.
Natural gas and coal are responsible for roughly two-thirds of the electricity generated in this country. How can we have stable and affordable electricity when federal agencies target America’s top two fuel generation sources for electricity?
Hostility to coal is not confined to this Administration, it has wrongly been targeted by some members of my own party. I take a different view: I welcome the continued development of coal as an important part of job creation in America. Allowing industry to invest in research and development is the best way to pursue clean coal technology.
I do not accept the false choice that we must pick between energy and the environment. It is time for a balanced, pro-American, pro-jobs energy policy.
Technologies in place today, and under development, can ensure cleaner development of conventional sources.
The EPA’s war on American fossil fuel production comes despite the fact they can’t point to a single incident of unsafe hydraulic fracturing of natural gas. If they have their way in shutting down gas and coal production, the Obama legacy will be more than 2.4 million energy jobs lost in oil, gas and coal.
The choice this election is between two very different visions for our country.
When it comes to energy, the President would kill domestic jobs through aggressive regulations, while I would create 1.2 million American jobs through safe and aggressive energy exploration at home.
President Obama would keep us more dependent on hostile sources of foreign energy, while my plan would make us more secure by tapping America’s true energy potential.
His energy policies are driven by the concerns of activists in his party, my policies are driven by the concerns of American workers without jobs.
We must get America working again. A big part of the solution is under our feet and off our coast.
It can be done without being mired in Washington gridlock, because a president has all the authority he needs to rollback intrusive regulations, create energy jobs, and make our nation more secure.
Creating jobs in America is as simple as changing presidents. That is the choice facing Americans.
America needs jobs. America needs energy. America needs a “made in America” energy revolution.
I have the long-time experience and track record of success in this critical area for American jobs and economic growth to create a new wave of American independence – energy independence.
End the over-regulation. End the excess litigation. End the bureaucratic intimidation. Let’s get back to what works to get America working again.
Make what Americans buy, buy what Americans make, and sell it to the world.
| For
Immediate
Release October 14, 2011 |
Contact: Alice Stewart |
Sioux City, Iowa - Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann issued the following statement today in response to Governor Rick Perry's energy plan:
"Governor Perry - I appreciate you endorsing my energy ideas. Your plan is exactly what I have been talking about since I entered the race in June. With my announcement of 'American Jobs, Right Now,' I am the only candidate with a comprehensive framework to grow the economy, create jobs, unleash potential for American energy, and reform the tax code; the major distinction is that I will implement my framework without abusing executive power."
from the DNC
Fact Check – Rick Perry’s Energy Speech
Please see below a fact check to Rick Perry’s energy speech in Pittsburgh today.
Claim: Perry’s energy policy will create 1.2 million new jobs in the energy industry.
FACT: RICK PERRY’S JOBS CLAIM IS BASED ON RESEARCH FUNDED BY BIG OIL
Ø Mason’s Research Was Funded By The American Energy Alliance. [The Economic Contribution of Increased Offshore Oil Exploration and Production to Regional and National Economies, February 2009]
o Pyle Is A Former Lobbyist For Koch Industries. [House Lobbying Disclosure, 8/12/05]
Ø Rick Perry Has Received More Than $11.5 Million From The Oil & Gas Industry Over His Career. [National Institute on Money in State Politics, Rick Perry Contributions, accessed 10/14/11]
Claim: Perry’s Texas has a strong environmental record.
FACT: TEXAS IS THE “LARGEST EMITTER OF CARBON DIOXIDE AND OTHER GREENHOUSE GASES IN THE COUNTRY”
Ø Texas Is “The Largest Emitter Of Carbon Dioxide And Other Greenhouse Gases In The Country.”[Texas Tribune, 9/29/11]
Ø Texas Has A “Large Presence Of Oil Refineries, Chemical Plants, Cement Kilns And Other Dirty Industries” And “Struggled With Emissions Of Both Toxic Pollutants And Smog-Forming Compounds.” [Texas Tribune, 9/29/11]
Claim: "Washington has curtailed energy exploration."
FACT: DOMESTIC OIL PRODUCTION IS UP
Ø Oil Drilling Activity In The U.S. Is Up Nearly 60% In The Past Year. [Wall Street Journal’s Real Time Economics blog, 8/27/11]
FACT: AS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION STRENGTHENED SAFETY RULES FOR OFFSHORE DRILLING, OIL PRODUCTION IN THE GULF OF MEXICO HAS CONTINUED AT NEAR RECORD LEVELS
o Overall, BSEE Has Approved 727 Permits For New, Sidetrack, Bypass, And Revised Offshore Wells In The Gulf Of Mexico Since June 2010. [BSEE.gov, accessed 10/13/11]
o There Are Only 15 Shallow Water And 15 Deepwater Permits For New Wells Pending. [BSEE.gov, accessed 10/13/11]
o BOEM Has Approved 13 Initial Exploration Plans For Shallow-Water Drilling In The Gulf Of Mexico. [BOEM.gov, accessed 10/13/11]
Ø Oil Production In The Gulf Of Mexico In 2010 Remained At Near Record Levels. [Energy Information Administration, accessed 9/9/11]
Ø There Are The Same Number Of Rigs Drilling In The Deep Waters Of The Gulf As There Were In 2009. [Wall Street Journal, 9/15/11]
Ø Royal Dutch Shell’s CEO Announced That All Of His Company’s Rigs Are Operating In The Gulf.
o Shell’s CEO Also Stated That There Is Clarity Around New Drilling Rules And DOI’s Approval Of Permits Is “A Pretty Clear Signal That The System Is Working And Is Getting More Efficient.” [Wall Street Journal, 9/15/11]
FACT: PRESIDENT OBAMA IS ENCOURAGING OIL COMPANIES TO UTILIZE THE LAND THEY’VE ALREADY LEASED
Ø The Department Of Interior Found That More Than Two-Thirds Of Leases In The Gulf Of Mexico And More Than Half Of Leases Onshore Were Idle As Of March 2011. [Department of Interior, 3/29/11]
o 45% Of All Onshore Leases And 57% Of All Leased Acres Are Inactive. [Department of Interior, 3/29/11]
Ø With Expanded Funding In The Recovery Act, The Department Of Energy’s Clean Energy Loan Guarantee Program Has Invested In Nearly 40 Companies That Are On Track To Create Over 60,000 Jobs. [LPO.gov, August 2011]
Claim: The EPA hurts the economy with no environmental benefits.
FACT: ACCORDING TO EPA ANALYSIS, REGULATION OF EMISSIONS FROM UTILITY PLANTS WILL CREATE MORE JOBS THAN IT COSTS
Ø EPA Analysis Shows That The Utility MACT Rule Would Create A Net Of 31,000 Job Years. [EPA, 5/3/11]
Ø Utility Industry Executives Argue That “Contrary To The Claims That The EPA's Agenda Will Have Negative Economic Consequences,” The Regulations Will Actually “Yield Important Economic Benefits, Including Job Creation, While Maintaining Reliability.” [Wall Street Journal, 12/8/10]
Ø Many Coal Plant Retirements Were Projected By The Utility Industry Even Before EPA Regulations Were Announced. [Bipartisan Policy Center, 6/13/11]
Ø The Bipartisan Policy Center Found That Most Analyses Of EPA Regulations – Particularly Those Addressing The Costs Of The Utility Air Toxics Rules – Assume That The Regulations Will Require Controls That Are Much More Costly Than They Actually Are. [Bipartisan Policy Center, 6/13/11]
FACT: EPA REGULATIONS ENACTED BY THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WILL SAVE BILLIONS IN ANNUAL HEALTH COSTS
Ø The Economic Policy Institute Found That EPA Rules “Will Be Of Tremendous Benefit To Public Health,” The Costs Of Which Amount “To Only About 0.1 Percent Of The Economy.” [EPI, 9/19/11]
FACT: EPA’S CROSS-STATE POLLUTION RULE WILL SAVE LIVES IN TEXAS AND ACROSS THE UNITED STATES
Ø Benefits Of The Cross-State Rule, Between $120 And $280 Billion Annually, Will Far Outweigh The Costs, Approximately $800 Million In 2014. [EPA, accessed 9/12/11]
Ø EPA Deputy Administrator: Air Pollution From Texas’ Power Plants Affects Air Quality For Millions Of Americans In 11 Different States. [Corpus Christi Caller-Times, 7/19/11]
Ø Pollution Reductions In Other States That Comply With The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule Will Prevent An Estimated 670 To 1,700 Premature Deaths Per Year In Texas. [Corpus Christi Caller-Times, 7/19/11]
Ø According To The Dean Of George Washington University’s School Of Public Health, The EPA’s Cross-State Pollution Rule Will Prevent As Many As 1,700 Premature Deaths In Texas Every Year. [E&E News, 7/7/11]
Ø Texas Utilities, Including Those Operated By Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, And Koch Industries, Are Already Cooperating With New EPA Emission Standards In Texas. [Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire, 7/12/11]
Ø EPA’s Regional Administrator For Texas Praised The State’s Utility Companies For Making “Significant Progress With No Disruptions, No Job Losses.” [Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire, 7/12/11]
FACT: NEW SAFETY REGULATIONS GOVERNING OFFSHORE DRILLING PUT IN PLACE IMPORTANT STANDARDS TO PREVENT ANOTHER DISASTER
Ø The Obama Administration Strengthened Inspections Of Oil Rigs, Announcing In June That Teams Of Auditors Would Inspect Rigs Instead Of Just A Single Worker. [Houston Chronicle, 6/14/11]
Ø The Obama Administration Implemented New Workplace Safety Rules Aimed At Reducing Organization Errors That Could Lead To Spills. [Greenwire, 9/30/10]
Ø The Department Of Interior Proposed A New Set Of Rules That Would Require Independent Safety Audits Of Rigs And Would Authorize Employees To Halt Work When They Witness Any Activity That Poses A Safety Threat. [Politico, 9/13/11]
Ø American Petroleum Institute Analyst Confirmed That The Obama Administration’s Proposed Regulations Are “In Line With What Industry And Government Have Already Been Doing.” [Wall Street Journal, 9/15/11]
PRESS RELEASE from the Sierra Club
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 2011
Contact: Kristina Johnson
Alex Wall
Rick Perry’s Energy Plan: Wheeze, Baby Wheeze
Plan Would Poison Water and Air; Ratchet Up Rates of Asthma, Heart Disease, Birth Defects
Pittsburgh – Today, Texas Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry unveiled his energy plan for America. The plan, if implemented, will poison our air and water with toxic pollutants like soot, smog, arsenic, cadmium, dioxin, lead, and formaldehyde. It would also undercut safeguards from mercury, which is a neurotoxin and is known to harm developing fetuses.
“Rick Perry’s energy plan reads like a roadmap for making America’s kids sick,” said Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune. “Under this plan, we can expect to see much higher rates of asthma among children, and risk to pregnant women from mercury exposure. Republicans like Perry are putting polluters’ profits first and our kids’ health last. The Republican mantra should be ‘wheeze, baby, wheeze.”
Perry’s plan calls for scaling back basic EPA safeguards that protect our clean air and water. It would simultaneously expand development of dirty energy like coal, oil, and natural gas amounting to a one-two punch to Americans’ health.
“American families have enough to worry about,” Brune said. “They don’t need to spend more time taking their kids to the doctor or more money on hospital bills. The only people who stand to profit from this plan are overpaid oil, coal and natural gas CEOs.”
“Dismantling the EPA and assuming that states are properly watching over natural gas drilling is dangerous and puts the health of our families and communities at risk.”
Perry’s plan would also undercut the expansion of jobs in industries like solar—the fastest-growing industry in the energy sector.
“There’s a solution to the current epidemic of pollution-related illness that will also create good, lasting local jobs, and secure America’s energy independence,” said Brune. “It’s clean energy. America’s clean energy industry is strong and thriving, even in this down economy. Rick Perry’s plan would stifle that growth and return our country to a dirty, antiquated energy system. Under his plan, we’ll see asthma rates among American kids soar, while countries like China surpass us in reaping the benefits from clean energy like solar and wind."
In fact, America is predicted to become the world’s leader in solar energy by 2014, and in 2010, the U.S. was a net exporter of solar by $2 billion. Solar energy creates seven times more jobs than coal, nuclear and natural gas.