Everyone wants reliable energy – it powers everyday lives, our supply and manufacturing chains, our travel, and our entertainment. Unreliable energy would completely disrupt our daily lives and longer-term planning.  But, Americans also need their energy to be affordable.  All our travel, monthly bills, and purchases become more expensive when the price of energy goes up – disrupting budgets and forcing hard choices about where to allocate limited resources.

About a third of Americans already struggle to pay their energy bills each month, and globally there are over two billion people without access to reliable electricity.

US energy leadership is a stabilizing force in world markets and protects Americans from extreme price fluctuations. Over the last decade, we have grown less reliant on foreign sources of energy and while costs for most household goods have skyrocketed, Americans’ energy costs have stayed historically low and stable due to the American energy revolution and pro-energy policies.  Domestic energy production supports good paying jobs, low and stable energy costs, and our national security.  It’s also important to note that our country was able to reduce our emissions more than any other country in the world during this time – showing that energy production and climate progress can happen together.

Energy prices are largely the result of supply, demand and costs.  When demand increases, there is upward pressure on prices. But, public policies also affect energy prices, because policies affect both supply and the costs associated with producing and transporting energy.  When an administration signals a shift away from affordable and reliable fossil fuels or makes policy decision to restrict domestic energy, there is a detrimental impact on the prices that Americans pay for energy.

The worst thing an Administration can do to energy prices is restrict supply by implementing policies that make it harder to produce energy.  To support the domestic production of oil and natural gas, an Administration and Congress should:

• • First, they should ensure the continued production on federal land and waters. Federal lands constitutes about 20 percent of all federal production, so slowing, restricting, or discouraging production on federal land will reduce domestic supply and create a greater imbalance between supply and demand.
  • Secondly, the industry needs sensible and cost-effective regulations. For example, AXPC supports effective and reasonable regulation of methane that balances the essential need of US oil and natural gas production with the global challenge of addressing climate change. Our industry is committed to working with EPA on the federal regulation of methane, in a manner that creates regulatory certainty for our industry and our workers.
  • Third, Congress should avoid raising taxes or imposing new fees on the American oil and gas industry. This will only restrict capital available for investment and drive-up costs.
  • Fourth, they should support the infrastructure needed to cleanly and safely move energy from the wellhead to the customer. Delaying or blocking permits or shutting down pipelines only causes increased costs, supply disruptions, and hurts jobs.
  • And last – but certainly not least, administrative leaders should work collaboratively with our industry on sensible, practical solutions to climate change that welcome our industry’s commitment to technology and innovation. It is through advancements like CCUS and LNG that the US is recognized as a global climate leader.  Our leaders should encourage and reward innovation – rather than impose new fees or costs that restrict our ability to invest in new technologies – because American production of oil and natural gas is some of the safest, most efficient and cleanest in the world.

All these steps would have the co-benefit of keeping good-paying jobs here in America.  When our nation’s elected and appointed officials support responsible domestic production, work with our industry on practical regulations to reduce emissions, and keep production and labor costs low, energy prices also remain low.

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