According to Mike Sommers, CEO and president for the American Petroleum Institute (API), energy leaders are eager for a post-COVID-19 “collective return to normal.”
“We’re established, we’re ready, we’re on it,” Sommers said. “That’s why collaboration, not conflict, is the way forward for energy and America.”
Speaking at the annual State of the Energy Industry Forum, presented online by the United States Energy Association (USEA), Sommers pointed to examples of how the industry supports environmental progress and economic recovery.
“We want to work with the [Biden] administration on the direct regulation of methane sources,” he said. “API members have made great progress in reducing methane over the past four years and believe smart regulation can accelerate this progress.”
Additionally, trade policies that support exports of American environmental progress must be ensured, Sommers said.
“By exporting liquefied natural gas, America has the capacity to share a low-cost, lower-carbon resource with our trading partners in Europe, Asia and around the world,” he said. “Natural gas is a big reason why the U.S. is the world leader in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. To meet Paris and other lower carbon targets, access to natural gas is essential.”
Finally, Sommers stressed the importance of the oil and gas industry in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our products serve as critical building blocks for millions of face masks, surgical gowns and other protective equipment worn by heroic front-line workers,” he said. “We fuel emergency vehicles, trucks to transport vaccines and airplanes to deliver medical supplies. In our nation’s most critical time of need, our industry workforce proves day in and day out that we are essential.”
Continuing the collaboration
Karen Harbert, CEO and president for the American Gas Association (AGA), emphasized that 180 million Americans use natural gas every day in private homes, businesses and schools.
“That’s more people than people who voted in the last election, so there’s a huge constituency that’s depending on us to deliver 24/7/365,” she said.
Harbert said that the AGA looks forward to partnering with the Biden administration “as we keep energy affordable, reduce our emissions and get the economy back on track.”
AGA is “putting our money where our mouth is” in continuing to reduce emissions, Harbert said.
“Every day, we invest about $3.8 million in energy efficiency, helping our customers reduce their carbon footprint, tighten their homes, replace insulation and weatherize where it’s practical,” she said. “We want to support our customers’ ambitions to reduce their emissions while we are reducing ours.”
Natural gas molecules are neither Republican nor Democrat, she said.
“They are American molecules, and we plan to use them to get this economy back on track and to continue to reduce our emissions,” she said. “That’s our commitment, we stand by it and we stand ready to help in any way.”
Rich Nolan, CEO and president for the National Mining Association (NMA), echoed Harbert’s sentiments at the forum. He expressed that the mining industry is ready to “build back better,” as President Biden has described his administration’s approach to restoring the U.S. economy.
“There’s no doubt about the fact that ‘made in America’ also translates to ‘mined in America,’” Nolan said. “I think it’s plain to see that building America’s advanced energy and manufacturing capacity and providing responsibly produced materials to supply it requires aligning U.S. energy policy with smart U.S. mining policy,” he added.
Nolan emphasized that “mining policy is energy policy, from building critical supply chains to continuing to provide the affordable power that will underpin this economic recovery.
“There is no path forward that doesn’t lean on our nation’s miners,” he concluded. “The NMA remains steadfastly committed to an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy approach.”