For Immediate Release: January 14, 2009 Contact: Jeff.Schrade@ngsa.org (202) 326-9300 www.NGSA.org or www.NaturalGas.org
"Blue Jobs" Provide Employment to nearly 6 Million Americans and Billions in Revenue to Taxpayers
(Washington, DC) Political leaders should start focusing on creating more "blue jobs" even as they pursue the creation of green jobs, a natural gas industry spokesman said today.
"Roughly 5.8 million Americans are employed in and supported by the natural gas and oil industries. We call those blue jobs, taking that image from the blue flame that comes from clean burning natural gas," said R. Skip Horvath, president and CEO of the Natural Gas Supply Association.
He noted that in the last quarter of 2008, even as the U.S. economy was contracting, natural gas and oil extraction firms added 16,000 new high-paying jobs compared to the same quarter in 2007.
"We fully support the creation of more green jobs, but we’ll be wearing our ‘Blue Jobs’ buttons when we meet with political leaders in Washington this year. We want them to better understand how vital our industry is."
"Solar and wind are the green energy forms everyone knows, but it takes blue to make green work. Fly-wheels, chemical batteries, compressed air and elevated water are future technologies that may someday be able to help solar and wind store energy, but the technology that’s available now to backup those generation sources is natural gas," Horvath said.
He noted that for every person employed directly in the industry, another two people are employed by supporting companies.
"We are talking about approximately six million people employed directly and indirectly by natural gas and oil firms. We could have even more people working in our industry with the right federal policies," Horvath said.
In addition to the employment impact, he cited a recent study which indicates opening new areas of supply could create over 100,000 new jobs and provide more than $1.7 trillion in revenue to federal, state and local governments over the next 20 years.
"In 2007, over $6.6 billion went to the U.S. treasury from royalties, rents and bonuses paid by the natural gas and oil industries. In 2008, that number more than doubled to more than $17.1 billion," Horvath said. "Last year state governments earned more than $2.2 billion from the natural gas and oil industry. In 2007, states received $1.6 billion."
As part of his jobs message, the NGSA leader noted that natural gas is a key component in American manufacturing.
"One-third of America’s natural gas is used by American manufacturers to create everything from trash bags and pantyhose to antifreeze and detergent. Those manufacturing jobs are all natural gas related," Horvath said.
He made his remarks at a United States Energy Association meeting held Wednesday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
"Natural gas is essential to America’s economic future. If Congress works to make more natural gas available, the stronger our nation will be," Horvath said.
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NGSA was established in 1965 and encourages the use of natural gas within a balanced national energy policy. The association promotes the benefits of competitive markets to ensure reliable and efficient transportation and delivery of natural gas and to increase the supply of natural gas to U.S. customers. NGSA member companies supply approximately 30 percent of the natural gas used in the United States.
Clean Natural Gas:
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