Sunday, September 28, 2008
Democrats’ attempt to keep new energy jobs out of Colorado fails
by Charles W. Fairbanks
Obama, the Democrats and their allies amongst the environmental extremists have done everything they can to prevent the responsible development of oil shale reserves in Colorado, reserves that rival the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia. They use the canard that increasing domestic production will not have an immediate effect on prices at the pump. That misses the point: A competitive domestic oil shale industry would reduce the wealth transfer overseas and provide as many as 200,000 jobs in Colorado and its neighbors.
“We can’t drill our way out of this mess,” is what the left will tell you. “Domestic drilling will not have an effect on prices at the pump,” is another of their arguments. The latter is a fallacy. It misses the point. Allowing the creation of a competitive domestic oil shale industry will bring huge economic benefits to working class Americans.
There are vast reserves of oil trapped in the shale of the Rocky Mountains. These reserves are larger than the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia. Congressional Democrats passed a moritorium preventing development of shale oil reserves and stopping the Bureau of Land Management from drafting regulations concerning commercial development. Again the left is hurting the very working people that they pretend to protect.
The moratorium expires on September 30. In anticipation, Obama’s Democrats attempted to extend the moratorium, but their attempt failed in the Senate but only narrowly.
Many of these reserves lie within the northwestern area of the battleground state of Colorado in the Piceance Basin. According to Senator Wayne Allard of Colorado, there are 360,000 acres in Colorado that are useable for domestic prodcution. In a comprehensive 2005 study, the Rand Corporation found that the economic benefits of commercial development of shale oil would be significant.
First, there would be the construction workers. Construction work would be continuous as it will take years to reach full capacity. Rand estimates that 20,000 construction workers would be needed to achieve an annual expansion of capacity of 200,000 barrels. The left argues that the impact of development would be insignificant because it would take years. Actually, the reverse is true: Because construction would be an ongoing process over a period of years, contruction workers would be employed over the long haul in good jobs.
Second, there would be the oilfield workers, approximately 70,000. These are good, high-paying blue collar jobs. And these jobs would have health benefits! Doesn’t the left want to see families covered by healthcare benefits?
Third, there would be the indirect employment for suppliers of the oil shale industry, for the small businesses where the workers would be spending their paychecks and yes, the government employees that would be needed in the production zones.
Rand estimates that a thriving oil domestic shale industry producing 3 million barrels per day would provide direct and indirect employment of 200,000 to 300,000.
And imagine the total economic benefit of production of one billion barrels of oil per year. At the current price of $110 per barrel, that would mean $110 billion per year that America would not have to dedicate to purchasing oil from people who don’t particularly like America. That is as significant. Pieced together with development of alternate sources of energy such as wind, solar and nuclear, and done in concert with a culture of conservation, domestic oil shale production provides America with a path to future prosperity. But Obama and his buddies are standing in the middle of the path, and blocking our way.
