Interior touts 1.5M jobs from energy development

Energy development on federal lands contributed $275 billion to the economy last fiscal year and created 1.5 million jobs, according to a report released Monday by the Interior Department.

The Interior Department claimed its activities contributed a total of $385 billion to the economy in fiscal 2011, with energy development comprising more than 71 percent of that amount.

The report serves as a rejoinder to Republican arguments that President Obama’s energy policies are thwarting production at home and contributing to high gas prices. That fight reached a fever pitch in the spring as prices soared above $4 per gallon.

Oil, gas and coal production were the biggest economic drivers for Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, generating an estimated economic contribution of $119.6 billion last year and supporting 558,976 jobs, according to the report. Wind energy on federal lands added $100 million in economic activity, along with 688 jobs. On-site solar construction yielded $1.4 billion in economic activity to go with 6,747 jobs.

The Interior report pushed for full cost accounting of energy sources, which means incorporating health and environmental effects into costs. The production of fossil fuels, in particular, “generates a waste stream that can damage human health and the environment,” the report said.

To highlight that point, Interior cited a National Research Council study that suggested coal electricity generation carried external costs equal to 70 percent of its market price. For natural-gas heat production, that figure was 42 percent.

For renewable energy sources, Interior said, the full cost accounting method should consider the impact that solar panels have on land use and the effect wind turbines have on bird populations, among other factors.

Interior said renewable energy, and especially wind and solar power, will play a larger role in the nation’s energy production in the years ahead. It cited a Bureau of Labor Statistics report that said job growth in renewable production is possible despite an overall decline in utility jobs through the end of the decade.

That trend could also spell more jobs, the report said. 

“As these sectors expand, there will be a growing need for more high and low skilled workers to construct, maintain, and operate plants,” the report said.

Interior generated another $41 billion in economic activity and 290,000 jobs last year through its use of water, timber and other resources, the report said.

---