It’s time for something to change in the American oil and gas industry. Our executives and their golf caddies have struggled through eight hard years of Obama-era regulations that cost our industry millions in profits and nearly killed dozens of energy firms. We oil and gas executives made serious sacrifices in order to weather the storm of Obama’s White House. New Learjet orders were postponed and vacations were canceled in order to make ends meet.
Despite our tough circumstances, however, American oil and gas production has more than doubled over the last decade. New technologies like hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” unlocked fossil fuel resources that were previously thought to be unprofitable. And the resulting growth in production has allowed the United States to finally achieve energy independence.
But energy independence is just no longer enough, folks. “Energy dominance” is now the name of the game, and new sacrifices will need to be made if we are going to achieve such a lofty goal. With the price of oil so low, we need to drill now more than ever to keep our competitive advantage over the renewable sector. We need more land and we need it now.
Under the last administration we were boxed in by forest rangers and public interest groups working to protect large swaths of backcountry for mountain lions, mule dear and hippies. We were blocked from leasing deep minerals in the Gulf of Mexico because of one little spill. We were told we could not drill in roadless areas despite our industry’s world-class road building abilities. And we were hamstrung by environmental compliance costs that could have provided needed expansions for our vacation homes in Aspen.
This cannot and will not continue. We need to be able to drill everywhere if we are going to summit the mountain of energy dominance. And the federal government’s so-called public lands -- national parks, monuments, forests, and wildlife refuges – will provide the perfect opportunity to add more slices to the profit pie for oil and gas companies like mine. We have every confidence that President Trump and Secretary of the Interior Zinke will comply.
The American public has been sitting on millions of acres of so-called “public” minerals since radical environmental activists like Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot locked them away from private speculation more than a century ago. But now it’s time to let go of the past and look towards the future – a future where profits are almost limitless, where we can drill on federal lands without the heavy burden of “public input” and “safety regulations” and “environmental protection.” Where every oil and gas company can have the opportunity to make big bucks exporting public minerals to Asia.
Thankfully, Secretary Zinke and industry representatives are working to remove protections from more than a dozen national monuments in the American West. This is a good start, and the final rescissions will open thousands of new acres for drilling. But we still need more.
It’s time for others to step up to the plate and make sacrifices in the name of American energy dominance. Ranchers will need to find other places to graze their cattle or find jobs in the oil field. Skiers and mountain bikers will need to navigate their way around our rigs or face criminal trespassing charges. And hunters will just have to deal with the noise or find another way to put food on the table. Is that too much to ask to make America great again?
It’s been a long, hard road back to the top for oil and gas executives, but we’ve weathered the storm and the sun is finally rising again on energy producers in America. This is our moment to shine -- like a flare stack atop a wilderness peak -- and this is our opportunity to make a permanent mark on the American West.
John P. Dottson is Operations Manager at Sunrise Mountain Oil and Gas (SMOG), you can learn more about SMOG on their website
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