Study Assesses Benefits of Opening Federal Lands to Oil, Gas, and Coal Leasing
WASHINGTON – Today, the Institute for Energy Research released a study titled, “The Economic Effects of Immediately Opening Federal Lands to Oil, Gas, and Coal Leasing,” by Dr. Joseph Mason, a professor at Louisiana State University and a Senior Fellow at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In the study, Dr. Mason assesses the economic benefits of expanding development of oil, gas, and coal resources on federal lands.
“The findings of this paper demonstrate that opening federal land that is currently closed-off because of statutory or administrative action would lead to broad-based economic stimulus, including increasing GDP, employment, wages, and tax revenues,” Dr. Mason notes in the study.
“Energy drives economic growth, so when we produce more, we see a better economy. This study is a prospective look forward at not just oil and gas jobs, but jobs across all sectors, including healthcare, manufacturing, and education,” said IER President Tom Pyle.“These are jobs that are supported and expanded by energy production.”
This study comes at an important time as the Obama administration gathers with world leaders in Paris to discuss ways to keep our abundant, affordable, and reliable domestic resources in the ground and spend vast sums to compel the use of other forms of energy. Dr. Mason’s findings offer a contrast to this line of thinking by showing the economic growth potential of America’s oil, gas, and coal resources that are currently not available for use by the American public.
Key findings from the study include:
- GDP would increase by $127 billion annually in the next seven years, and $663 billion annually in the next thirty years
- $20.7 trillion cumulative increase in economic activity over the next thirty-seven years, simply by allowing Americans to go to work producing energy
- 552,000 jobs would be created annually over the next seven years, with 2.7 million jobs annually over the next thirty years
- $32 billion increase in annual wages over the next seven years, with a cumulative increase of $5.1 trillion over thirty-seven years
- The federal government would receive an additional $3.9 trillion in federal tax revenues over thirty-seven years, while state and local tax revenues would rise by $1.9 trillion over the same time period.
Click here to read the full report.
Click here for the executive summary.
