EXCLUSIVE: Top oil lobbyist doubts reduced-use promises

The U.S. oil and natural-gas industry’s new lead lobbyist said Tuesday he doubted that President-elect Barack Obama would be able to deliver on his campaign promise to reduce American oil consumption by 10 million barrels a day by 2030, but endorsed efforts to create more “green” jobs, many of which, he said, would be situated at oil companies.

In an interview with reporters and editors of The Washington Times, Jack Gerard, the president of the American Petroleum Institute (API), also said he was confident that Congress would not reinstitute a ban on offshore drilling despite Democratic gains in the last election.

“That would be part of the old way of doing business, as opposed to this new paradigm,” Mr. Gerard said.

He warned, however, that additional drilling could be delayed by the new secretary of the interior.

Oil and gas, Mr. Gerard said, would continue to be a major staple of U.S. energy consumption for many years to come.

“Oil and gas is the backbone of the American economy. It has been for many years; it will continue to be for many more years,” said Mr. Gerard, who has been at API for just a few weeks. “We could quadruple what we’re talking about in the area of alternatives and renewables that were doing today, and what would that give us? About 3 percent of our energy production.”

Environmental groups, who supported Mr. Obama’s campaign and Democrats’ successful efforts to achieve wider margins in Congress, released their own lengthy list of energy priorities for the president’s transition team in a 400-page report Tuesday.

View Part 1 of interview below. Listen to Part 2 and 3 at washingtontimes.com/media

The incoming Obama administration is expected to push hard for new investments in renewable energy, and congressional leaders have said they will press forward with plans to cap carbon-dioxide emissions - all of which appear to bode poorly for “dirty fuels,” such as oil.

But Mr. Obama’s call for more “green,” environmentally friendly jobs would actually benefit the oil and gas industry disproportionately, Mr. Gerard said.

“We are major players in emerging technologies,” he said in the wide-ranging interview.

Oil companies have come under fire in Washington since the price of gas spiked to a national average of $4 a gallon earlier this year. Record profits by the nation’s oil giants became a popular point of complaint for Democratic lawmakers during the campaign.

API began spending tens of millions of dollar a year in advertising not long after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005 to deflect calls for a windfall-profits tax on oil companies and proposals to end billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil producers. Mr. Obama advocated a windfall-profits tax, saying he would like to subsidize renewable-energy sources with the extra revenue collected.

Mr. Gerard said he planned to continue spending significant amounts on issue advertising, but declined not give a specific number.

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