This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The western United States by 2020 will produce more energy from oil and natural gas daily than the nation imports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and several other major producers, but companies here need government to get out of the way, according to a new report by the Western Energy Alliance.
Utah alone will bump its natural gas production by 42 percent in the next decade, according to the industry group's analysis, titled "Blueprint for Western Energy Prosperity." That will bring $104 million in new severance taxes, according to the group.
To fully realize the region's energy promise, though, the alliance says the federal government must reform leasing, permitting and environmental analysis while resisting new regulations and limiting litigation that "unreasonably obstructs domestic energy production and economic growth."
The government also should change renewable energy standards to allow natural gas to compete for electrical generation capacity, according to the report.
"Western producers are gravely concerned that government policies are significantly undermining these projections of growth, investment and expansion," Western Energy Alliance President Tom Sheffield said in a written statement.
The report drew criticism from the Checks and Balances Project, a public-interest group that investigates lobbying efforts in land and energy policy. Rocky Mountain drilling already is back to pre-recession levels and approaching a 20-year high, said Matthew Garrington, the group's deputy director, so the industry has no need for environmental shortcuts.
"Big Oil and Big Gas can stand on their own two feet," Garrington said. "They don't need these kinds of government handouts."
WEA's report is available online at http://westernenergyalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07.