Reenergizing America

Over the weekend, I described Rick Perry's jobs plan as unattainable. I still feel that that is the case. It will take a long time before the job numbers that he mentioned are actually realized, and he will be long out of office when that is the case. However, I do agree with Perry that the energy industry can create jobs:

We can create hundreds of thousands of jobs and increase our oil output by 25 percent if we fully develop oil and gas shale formations in the Northeast, mountain West and Southwest. I also support drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain (ANWR), offshore expansion in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, and development of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, all of which would maintain the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. This will create more than 185,000 U.S. jobs.

The numbers are ambitious, at least for the immediate future. In fact, some think the plan would take years to materialize jobs:

"It's not going to be overnight," said David Dismukes, associate executive director for the Center for Energy Studies at Louisiana State University. "These are big capital-oriented investments. People don't turn on a dime with these investments."

There's a lot of potential in energy though:

"I don't know any other industry that can bring this quantity of jobs to the market," she said. "We have the potential that's not being realized and it could be."

With the unemployment rate as high as it is, it makes sense to ease some of the restrictions in order to get some of these industries working. It's not just the drilling and mining that will create jobs, there's a trickle down effect:

With millions of Americans clamoring for employment opportunities, there is no excuse to delay. A study released last month by the Woods Mackenzie research firm found that 1.4 million jobs and $800 billion in new government revenue could be created over the next two decades by removing barriers to increased domestic oil and gas production. These are high-paying jobs, available now, and private industry—not the taxpayer—is making the investment.

The two main political talking points are jobs and balancing the budget. This would help both of those things. By enabling these projects, they can spur industry. It will help construction of plants and drilling sites. It will bring management, it will bring financial support. There's a lot of potential in spurring this industry.

Versus digging up and rebuilding perfectly fine roads, this is a much better solution. This actually creates new jobs that will last, rather than creating new work. This expands an industry that will not only provide jobs, but will also provide tax revenue from these new projects. It's really a no-brainer.