API releases annual energy report, launches campaign

Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API), delivered a keynote address upon releasing API’s 2016 State of American Energy report, highlighting energy issues at play in a presidential election year.

“In broad terms, the state of American energy is strong, even during this time of what we call realignment,” Gerard says. “The United States is more energy self-sufficient and has transitioned from an era of energy scarcity and dependence into a global energy leader.”

However, the decisions U.S. citizens and legislators make will help determine whether the nation remains the global energy leader, Gerard says.

API launched its Vote4Energy campaign so the United States can remain a global energy leader.

“Our nation’s success as a global energy production and carbon reduction leader is rooted in the United States’ unique federal system, which allows the states to be an active and semiautonomous actor when it comes to how its energy resources are developed,” Gerard says.

According to the API report, the Vote4Energy program is built on three pillars:

1. The safe, responsible and growing development, production, refinement and transportation of American-made energy;
2. A true all-of-the-above energy strategy that values and leverages America’s full range of energy resources; and
3. Forward-thinking energy policies that sustain and grow American prosperity here at home and our influence in the world.

The voter education campaign aims to drive national energy discussion that’s focused on facts and a better environment, Gerard adds.

Gerard also touched on Congress’ support for the nation’s long-standing tentative energy policy, citing a lift of the 40-year ban on crude oil exports as an example.

“A recent study by ICF International found that lifting this ban could save consumers as much as $5.8 billion per year on fuel costs,” Gerard says.

Watch Gerard’s keynote address below.