The Economic Benefits of Opening Up Oil and Gas Drilling

Everyone knows that the U.S. is experiencing a boom in oil and gas production, but that boom is limited to private lands and, to a lesser extent, state lands, since the Obama administration continues to block energy development on federally-owned lands. How badly is the Obama administration hurting our economy by suppressing energy development wherever it can?

The Institute for Energy Research commissioned Prof. Joseph Mason of LSU to estimate the answer to this question. You can read Mason’s report here. Mason looks at both short-term gains, during the pre-production phase estimated at seven years, and long-term gains during the ensuing 30 years of oil and gas production. Mason concludes that reforming the Obama administration’s energy policies would yield more than 500,000 jobs annually in the short term, and almost two million jobs annually during the ensuing 30 years. He finds that GDP would increase by $127 billion annually over the next seven years, and $450 billion annually thereafter.

I think pretty much everyone understands that increasing prosperity and allowing job creation are not Barack Obama’s priorities, but his administration’s efforts to suppress economic growth should be hung around his neck like an albatross every day.

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