Steve Forbes: Obama policies may end energy boom

It should go without saying that the men and women working in America's oil and gas sector deserve some kind of award. Too bad not everyone sees it that way.

Filling up for less at the pump has Americans smiling, and that's just one of the reasons to be happy with domestic energy producers. The oil and gas industry has been the economy's top workhorse in the past several years, helping to bring the nation out of the recession. Job growth in energy-producing states has far exceeded that of other states. A massive $1.4 trillion in private investments has meant even more jobs for other sectors. Over a 70% increase in energy independence since 2008 has also meant more American dollars staying at home to be reinvested in the economy.

At the same time, the industries' scientists devoted much of their careers innovating better natural resource stewardship, contributing to a 70% reduction in harmful air pollution since 1970. Natural average ozone levels have decreased by 33% just since 1980. In 2012, greenhouse gas emissions in the United States fell to their lowest level in 17 years, thanks chiefly to clean-burning natural gas, according to an Environmental Protection Agency report.

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But no, despite the president falsely taking credit for the energy boom to boost his flagging popularity, the only "award" the hard-working people petroleum industries may expect from this administration is contempt and anti-energy-production rules and regulations.

White House spokespeople came out of the gate running with the New Year, declaring opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. Meanwhile, agencies announced an array of catastrophically costly initiatives that would raise the cost of energy for consumers while crippling an industry already stretched thin from defending itself against economic warfare waged by OPEC and the vagaries of the Federal Reserve's dollar policy.

They followed up with executive action to block energy investment in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a significant blow to future U.S. energy production, despite the fig leaf of expanded offshore drilling.

The White House and the EPA are even now rolling out new rules to reduce methane in oil and gas operations. The new regulation declares methane gas to be a pollutant. Politically, this sly decree sets the stage for taxing the newly-declared pollutant alongside carbon and ozone, thus siphoning off dollars from American's productive economy engines directly into the government trough. In turn, government agencies can be expected to fund any number of costly, Solyndra-like green energy disasters.

This summer, consumers will feel the EPA's heavy hand in the form of carbon emission regulations on natural gas power plants as well as existing coal power plants. The carbon rule for existing power plants could cost at least $366 billion to comply. Further, electric bills for consumers in 43 states can plan on double-digit percentage increase on average over the 15-year period from 2017 to 2031, according to a recent study by NERA Economic Consulting. This will overwhelm any savings at the gas pump.

Obama's position on energy issues had been somewhat cloaked in the past. While the president publicly ballyhooed the energy boom, the administration quietly worked to block oil and gas development on federal land. And for years, he muted his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. But with the midterm election is behind him, the president has made his opposition clear. Coincidence? Probably not, considering billionaire hedge funder and Keystone antagonist Tom Steyer has had no fewer than 14 meetings in the Obama White House.

In aligning his administration with the fringe of the anti-fossil fuel jihadists, the president makes it clear that ideology will trump a responsible energy policy for the balance of his term.

American jobs, affordable energy and continued economic recovery will depend on a strong energy sector. The men and women working in oil and gas don't need a medal or any special favors, but they do need the government to let them do their jobs. If a bipartisan coalition in Congress can hang tough against the administration's onslaught, America's energy revolution will continue to be the envy of the world.

Steve Forbes is editor-in-chief of Forbes Media.

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