Jewell outlines two-year agenda for U.S. energy policy

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell outlined the administration's energy-policy agenda for the next two years in a speech on Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

“It is no coincidence that our economic recovery has been accompanied by the biggest energy transformation of our lifetimes,” Jewell said. “The energy revolution we experienced in the past six years helped spur the recovery, but it has also been accelerated by the policies our country has put in place.”

“Since 2008, U.S. oil production has surged from 5 million to 9 million barrels per day, and our dependence on foreign oil has fallen to its lowest level in more than 30 years,” Jewell said. “The amount of solar energy has increased 10-fold, and wind energy has tripled since 2008, helped by more than $340 billion of private-sector investment and a tax policy that helped move those investments off the sidelines. Families are driving farther than ever on a tank of gas, and with lower gas prices, the average household will have an extra $750 in their pockets in 2015.

“Put simply, our task by the end of this administration is to put in place common-sense reforms that promote good government and help define the rules of the road for America’s energy future on our public lands,” Secretary Jewell said. “Those reforms should help businesses produce energy more safely and with more certainty. They should encourage technological innovation. They should ensure American taxpayers are getting maximum benefit from their resources, and they should apply our values and our science to better protect and sustain our planet for future generations.”