Potential Economic and Energy Supply Impacts of Proposals to Modify Federal Environmental Laws Applicable to the U.S. Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Industry
Analysis by Advanced Resources International, Arlington, VA, for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy
In the last several years, a number of environmental organizations have pushed for greater federal environmental oversight of U.S. oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) operations. These organizations generally allege that a number of “loopholes” in federal U.S. statutes and regulations allow U.S. oil and gas producers to circumvent environmental requirements imposed on other industries. To the contrary, many of these “loopholes” are actually the outgrowth of prior regulatory deliberations that considered such factors as environmental risk, the adequacy of other existing state and federal regulatory requirements to achieve similar environment protection results, economics, and impacts on energy supply.
To better understand the implications of proposals for greater federal oversight on E&P operations in today’s energy market, in 2008 the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy commissioned a white paper to examine potential economic and energy impacts on three domestic oil and natural gas supply sources: currently producing oil and gas wells, potential future supplies of unconventional natural gas, and potential future crude oil supplies from carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery.
The results underscore the importance of regulatory decisions that are cost-effective and balanced in achieving national environmental, economic and energy goals.
|
