The oil and natural gas industry currently accounts for 5.3 percent of total U.S. employment. To put this in perspective, the number of jobs supported by the upstream oil and natural gas industry segment alone in 2010—2.5 million—is larger than the populations of 15 states. Find out what a vote for energy could mean by exploring each Learning Center section.
Learning Center
Vote 4 Jobs
America’s oil and natural gas industry supports 9.2 million men and women across the United States in a wide range of highly skilled, well-paying professions. With the right government policies in place, the oil and natural gas industry can create more American jobs that can help grow the U.S. economy, generate substantial new revenues for government and provide greater energy security for our nation. In fact, with increased access to U.S. oil and gas resources we can create 1 million new jobs in the next ten years alone.
Vote 4 Security
The domestic oil and natural gas industry produces 51% of all the oil and petroleum products Americans consume. There is no question—a thriving domestic oil and gas industry is vital to America’s energy security. And with the right policies in place, the industry can secure this future. In fact, U.S. and Canadian supplies can provide 100 percent of our liquid fuel needs by 2030 with the implementation of policies that support responsible development.
Vote 4 Economic Growth
Consider it the energy stimulus: $476 billion delivered to the U.S. economy by the oil and natural gas industry in 2010—equal to roughly 60% of the 2009 federal stimulus. It’s a stimulus that didn’t need an act of Congress and which, with the right policies, can be repeated over and over—helping to drive broader economic recovery. The industry also pays $86 million every day to the federal government in corporate taxes, royalty payments, rents and bonus fees.
Vote 4 Responsibility
America’s oil and natural gas industry considers safety its top priority and is committed to developing the technologies, standards and best practices, and programs needed to help ensure that workplace safety is at the forefront of our activities. Since 1990, the oil and natural gas industry has invested $209 billion toward improving the environmental performance of its products, facilities and operations. The industry is committed to a goal of zero fatalities, zero injuries and zero incidents.
Vote 4 Sustainability
The oil and natural gas industry invested $58.4 billion in low-carbon technologies from 2000 to 2008. This represents 44% of the $133 billion spent by all U.S. industries and the federal government combined. These large investments are critical to provide the low-carbon energy we will need in the years ahead. The industry’s investment in emerging technology is also significant—investing an estimated $13 billion in 2009 in environmental expenditures to further safer, cleaner and more efficient operations.
Vote 4 Efficiency
Today, the United States uses about half as much energy from oil and natural gas for every dollar of GDP as it did in 1980. Energy efficiency helps energy companies manage costs, which in turn strengthens competitiveness and brings more affordable energy products to Americans. Energy efficiency also helps improve the oil and natural gas industry’s environmental performance by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The industry also directly reduced GHG emissions by almost 56 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent between 2009 and 2010.
Vote 4 You
Contrary to popular belief, America’s oil and natural gas companies aren’t owned by a small group of insiders. Only 2.8 percent of industry shares are owned by corporate management. The rest is owned by regular Americans, many of them middles class, such as teachers, policemen and women, and firefighters. That means there is a good chance that you are actually an owner of a U.S. energy company, which is good news for you—the assets invested in oil and natural gas consistently outperform the rest of an invested portfolio, fueling Americans’ retirement security.
