Moving ahead with educational advocacy

But just why has the industry felt the need to undertake such a program? Red Cavaney, President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API), provides some context. “Like many industries, especially those with roots dating back a century or more, we have traditionally focused on just getting our job done, if you will,” he says. “To the extent we communicated externally, our companies have tended to focus on their brand.”

Cavaney explains that on issues related to public policy, the industry has tried to be responsive to a policy-maker audience. “The industry has not, however, engaged stakeholders and others more broadly about its irreplaceable role in fueling our nation’s overall economic growth or its contribution to an improved quality of life for the American consumer,” he says.

Cavaney believes that the industry’s experience in the catastrophic hurricanes of 2005 was a turning point. “Despite 200-mile-per-hour winds and seas of up to 100 feet, not a life was lost in evacuating workers from among some 4000 offshore oil and natural gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Moreover, there were no oil spills of any significance in the Gulf. While our refineries, pipelines and other facilities paid a heavy price in damage, many returned quickly to operation. But, despite this record, our companies faced Congressional hearings, investigations, charges of price gouging and ‘windfall profits’, and were the target of punitive tax measures in Congress.”

The industry has realized it needs to communicate in new ways and to broader audiences to deal with this strained situation, Cavaney says. “This new engagement should, over time, begin to erode the myths and inaccuracies that have accumulated around our industry and energy policy over the years. It must take many forms: everything from face-to-face meetings, to paid national advertising, to site visits and tours, to town hall meetings and to increased web-based communications, to name a few.”

He maintains that, as the nation takes steps to meet the nation’s future energy needs, the focus should be on three areas: efficiency, technology and diversity. “First, America’s energy companies must continue to improve our own energy efficiency, and encourage energy efficiency in other industries and by the American people; second, we must increase the use of advanced energy technologies that allow us to develop our resources cleanly and responsibly; and third, we must increase the diversity of our oil and natural gas supplies, both here at home and from around the world.”

One of the first steps toward increasing our energy security is making the most of what we already have. “We all need to become more energy efficient,” he asserts. “America’s oil and natural gas companies have practiced energy efficiency for decades. It helps us operate in a more environmentally-compatible way, while providing greater savings to our customers.”

Cavaney also outlines how the industry has researched and developed breakthrough technologies to help find, develop and deliver energy. “For example, we use what’s called multi-dimensional drilling. We can drill down at one site, then turn left or right and drill for more than five miles, and then go further down or back up – whatever is needed to encounter the oil. Advanced techniques like these have dramatically reduced our environmental footprint.”

In addition, he stresses that diversity of sources is the best way to ensure energy security and meet growing demand. “Our country should be doing all it can to increase the amount of energy produced in the United States,” he says. “We should encourage the development of alternative and renewable sources of energy, which are growing at a rate faster than traditional sources.”

The Department of Energy estimates that oil, natural gas, and coal will continue to meet approximately 85 percent of US energy demand for at least the next two decades. “Fortunately, there are vast supplies of oil and natural gas – both here in the United States and around the world – to meet US energy demand and achieve energy security,” Cavaney says. However, more than 85 percent of US coastal waters that are up to 200 miles from our shores are off-limits to oil and natural gas exploration. “These areas, and 75 percent of the technically available US onshore areas, are ‘off-limits’ or accessible only with significant restrictions, even though federal government estimates indicate there is enough oil to power more than 60 million cars for 60 years and heat more than 25 million homes for 60 years,” he says. “And there is enough natural gas to heat an additional 60 million homes for another 60 years.”

Cavaney concludes by saying that the industry is confident it can meet the challenge of energy security, just as the US has met other great challenges in the past. “However, we will succeed only by working together,” he says. “Together, we will ensure that we deliver America’s energy security.”

For additional information on the US oil and natural gas industry’s educational advocacy program, go to www.energytomorrow.org.