For Obama, American-Made Energy Jobs Can Wait

November 22, 2011

Democrats Put the Political Need to Rally Their “Green” Base Over Creating Immediate Energy Jobs

News out late last week indicated that Obama’s Department of Agriculture is delaying a shale drilling project in Ohio that would create up to 200,000 new jobs. Unsurprisingly, the move is being taken “in deference to environmentalists.”
The move would be alarming by itself, but sadly the announcement reflects a disturbing trend for the administration of pushing job-destroying regulations while delaying job-creating projects so as to side with radical environmentalists in the Democrat base.
This insistence on destroying readily available jobs contrasts with the failure of Democrat initiatives to create new “green” jobs.

BACKGROUND

News out late last week indicated that Obama’s Department of Agriculture is delaying a shale drilling project in Ohio that would create up to 200,000 new jobs. Unsurprisingly, the move is being taken “in deference to environmentalists”:

OBAMA ADMIN DELAYS 200,000 JOBS FROM OHIO SHALE DRILLING PROJECT “IN DEFEFERENCE TO ENVIRONMENTALISTS”: “President Obama’s United States Department of Agriculture has delayed shale gas drilling in Ohio for up to six months by cancelling a mineral lease auction for Wayne National Forest (WNF). The move was taken in deference to environmentalists, on the pretext of studying the effects of hydraulic fracturing.” (Joel Gehrke, “Obama USDA Delays Shale Drilling, Up to 200k Jobs,” The Washington Examiner, 11/18/2011)

The move would be alarming by itself, but sadly the announcement reflects a disturbing trend for the administration of pushing job-destroying regulations while delaying job-creating projects so as to side with radical environmentalists in the Democrat base:

EPA ANNOUNCES THAT IT IS STILL GOING THROUGH WITH NEW POWER PLANT RULES, DESPITE EARLIER DELAYS: “The top U.S. environmental regulator will propose early next year twice-delayed rules on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, she told the energyNOW television show.

” ‘I can’t tell you what the regulations say right now, but what we are planning to do is release them early next calendar year,’ Lisa Jackson, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, told the program in a segment seen by Reuters that is to be broadcast over the weekend.

“The EPA in June delayed the proposed rules on power plants, which are the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, saying it needed more time after talking with businesses, states and green groups. It delayed them again in September.”(Timothy Gardner, “EPA to Propose Utility Carbon Rules Next Year,” Reuters, 11/17/2011)

UTILITY MACT RULE IS PROJECTED TO COST 1.44 MILLION JOB-YEARS: “Some plants may shut their doors while others will sharply decrease production or abandon plans to expand their facility. The NERA study predicts that the United States will lose 1.44 million job-years (where one job is for one year) by 2020 should both regulations be finalized and implemented.” (Paul A. Yost, National Association of Manufacturers, 8/4/2011)

“OBAMA PUNTS KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE” UNTIL AFTER 2012 ELECTION: (Dan Berman and Darren Goode, “Obama Punts Keystone XL Pipeline,” Politico, 11/10/2011)

GREEN GROUPS HAD THREATENED TO ABANDON OBAMA IF HE APPROVED THE PROJECT: “Environmental groups have been protesting the pipeline that would run from Alberta oil sands to Texas refineries, and there have been rumblings that greens would abandon Obama next fall if he approved it.” (Dan Berman and Darren Goode, “Obama Punts Keystone XL Pipeline,” Politico, 11/10/2011)

PROJECT HAD BROAD SUPPORT FROM UNIONS: “The pipeline has the support of many Republicans in Congress and also major labor unions like the Teamsters, Laborers’ International Union of North America and segments of the AFL-CIO.” (Dan Berman and Darren Goode, “Obama Punts Keystone XL Pipeline,” Politico, 11/10/2011)

KEYSTONE PROJECT WAS PROJECTED TO CREATE MORE THAN 20,000 “SHOVEL-READY” JOBS: (Editorial, “Keystone Cop-Out,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/11/2011)

LONG-TERM JOBS IMPACT: UP TO 130,000 JOBS: “Many of those 20,000 jobs on the construction of the pipeline would have been filled by skilled union members. Eventually, the completed pipeline was expected to result in as many as 130,000 jobs, many of them on the upper Texas Coast, where the heavy oil would be refined into 700,000 barrels of oil daily.” (Editorial, “Keystone Pipeline is the Wrong Call,” The Houston Chronicle, 11/11/2011)

This insistence on destroying readily available jobs contrasts with the failure of Democrat initiatives to create new “green” jobs:

DEMOCRATS STILL PUSHING “GREEN JOBS” IN STIMULUS 2.0: “Green jobs, green jobs, green jobs – where were the green jobs in the Obama jobs plan speech delivered to Congress last night? A glance at the plethora of material put out by the White House doesn’t immediately suggest green jobs, which the President glazed over last night, were on his agenda. If you look, and listen, closely though, you do see some green poking out of the $447 billion American Jobs Act.” (Nino Marchetti, “Green Jobs in Obama’s Speech if you Dig for Them,” Reuters, 9/12/2011)

BUT “FEDERAL AND STATE EFFORTS TO STIMULATE CREATION OF GREEN JOBS HAVE LARGELY FAILED, GOVERNMENT RECORDS SHOW”: (Aaron Glantz, “Number of Green Jobs Fails to Live Up to Promises,” The New York Times, 8/18/2011)

THE GREEN JOBS SINKHOLE: STIMULUS “SPENT MORE THAN $111 MILLION TO TRAIN 18,000 PEOPLE WHO STILL HAVEN’T LANDED A [GREEN] JOB”: “President Obama’s highly-touted green jobs program — born out of his 2009 stimulus package — has spent more than $111 million to train 18,000 people who still haven’t landed a job.” (“Obama’s $500 Million Green Jobs Program ‘Far Behind’ Projections, Watchdog Says,”FoxNews.com, 11/2/2011)

STIMULUS GREEN PROGRAM AT 21 PERCENT OF TRAINING GOAL, 10 PERCENT OF JOB-PLACEMENT GOAL. PRETTY SURE THAT’S AN “F”: “Though the department set a goal of training nearly 97,000 people and placing 80,000 in jobs, the 26,000 people trained represent 21 percent of the goal while only 10 percent had found work.”(“Obama’s $500 Million Green Jobs Program ‘Far Behind’ Projections, Watchdog Says,”FoxNews.com, 11/2/2011)

EPA’S ESTIMATE OF GREEN JOBS “CREATED OR RETAINED” BY STIMULUS SHRANK TO JUST 7,140 JOBS. THE PRICETAG? $1 MILLION PER JOB AND $7.2 BILLION DOWN THE DRAIN: “President Obama’s green jobs agenda has become a victim of its own red tape. Several internal reports show that state-level projects have stalled for years due to federal regulations favors by labor and green groups—big boosters of the green jobs push.

“The reports offer a peek into the dysfunction within the White House’s green jobs initiative. In 2009, Obama dedicated $7.2 billion of stimulus funds to build ‘clean tech’ jobs. He vowed to create 5 million jobs over the next decade.

“So far, that effort has ‘created or retained’ just 7,140 jobs, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s about $1 million per job. That number is actually down from last year, when the EPA claimed 16,605 green jobs.” (Sean Higgins, “Davis-Bacon Clogs Green Jobs,” Investor’s Business Daily, 8/30/2011)

BUT FORMER WH ECONOMIST AUSTAN GOOLSBEE WARNED OBAMA FROM OUTSET THAT GREEN JOB CREATION WOULD BE “MODEST” AT BEST: “Nearly two years before, Goolsbee had told Obama, then an underdog candidate, that hiring from a clean-energy initiative would be modest. But now the White House was offering official pronouncements and fanfare, presenting the president and his top officials, for six thousand jobs?” (Ron Suskind, “Lost and Found,” Confidence Men, p. 366)