American Petroleum Institute (API) Midwest and Mountain West Region Director Lynn Granger delivered remarks during the New Mexico EnergyPlex Conference hosted by the Economic Development Corporation of Lea County. Granger emphasized the importance of American natural gas and oil to solving today’s energy challenges and the need for policies that strengthen the industry’s growing economic contributions in New Mexico and across the country.
“For energy powerhouses like the Permian, it’s been a rocky two years since President Biden took office,” Granger said. “Over the course of President Biden’s first 19 months, the federal government issued the fewest leases for developing offshore and onshore projects since World War 2, back when our economy was a tiny fraction of what it is today.”
“Instead, the focus of America’s long-term energy strategy should be increasing, not restricting, U.S. oil and natural gas development. American energy is produced under some of the strongest environmental standards in the world.”
Granger also outlined the consequences we risk if policymakers further inhibit American energy producers from responding to growing global demand for affordable, reliable energy.
“There’s a lot at stake in these regulatory and legislative fights – not just Washington politics, but for our future,” Granger said. “So, when you hear policymakers – wherever they talk about enacting restrictions on our industry… these are the jobs, those are the people, and this is the scale of the impact that would be on the chopping block.”
API represents all segments of America’s natural gas and oil industry, which supports nearly 11 million U.S. jobs and is backed by a growing grassroots movement of millions of Americans. Our approximately 600 members produce, process and distribute the majority of the nation’s energy, and participate in API Energy Excellence®, which is accelerating environmental and safety progress by fostering new technologies and transparent reporting. API was formed in 1919 as a standards-setting organization and has developed more than 800 standards to enhance operational and environmental safety, efficiency and sustainability.
