CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TOUTS POTENTIAL FOR EOR

Business Lobbying Group Aims to Bring Energy Production into ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Discussions

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
11/30/12

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy emphasized the potential economic and energy security benefits associated with further utilizing enhanced oil recovery in a report released this week. Meant as a basic primer for Congressional staffers, the EOR report cites Department of Energy figures that estimate that the technology could help economically recover 67 billion barrels of oil at a price of $85 per barrel, which could generate an estimated $1.4 trillion in new government revenue. “At a time when lawmakers are seeking to avoid falling off the fiscal cliff, increasing energy production and the resulting government revenue, jobs and economic growth should be at the top of the agenda,” Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the Chamber’s Energy Institute, said in a statement. “We’ve chosen to highlight carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery because broader usage of this proven technology could be one of the next big things in energy production, bringing trillions in new government revenues to our coffers while reducing oil imports.” 

The influential business lobbying federation, the world’s largest, in recent weeks has been seeking to tie increased domestic energy production—particularly via unconventional oil and gas development—and the tax revenues associated with it as a partial fix for the nation’s so-called ‘fiscal cliff.’ Chamber President and CEO Thomas Donohue has recommended that lawmakers enact comprehensive tax and entitlement reform while also incorporating energy into the discussion. “America’s leaders should be smart enough not to squander this opportunity. That’s why the Chamber is pushing for expanded American energy development in any ‘big deal’ Congress strikes to address the fiscal cliff and our long-term economic challenges,” Donohue wrote in an op-ed last weekend in the Salt Lake City Deseret News. “It’s our single greatest opportunity for progress and agreement.” At the Chamber’s board of director’s meeting this week, Donohue again advocated for expanded energy production as part of the approach. The Hill newspaper reported that Donohue called energy production the country’s “true cash cow,” recommending that lawmakers aim to bolster potential future revenues from increased production.

The report lays out the basics of how EOR works, its potential to cut oil imports and boost energy security while also generating environmental benefits. “While CO2 EOR is not a substitute for new exploration if we want to realize the full benefits of producing domestic resources, it can substantially add to our supply through increased production from existing oil fields,” according to the report. It also emphasizes EOR’s ability to drive a market for capturing CO2 without having to enact a price on carbon, a topic the Chamber has remained prickly on in previous years. “CO2 EOR provides a cost-effective and market-oriented means to capture CO2 and provide long-term storage without imposing a government-mandated price on carbon,” according to the report. The lobbying group has not taken a firm position on the idea of a carbon tax, perhaps the most prominent energy and environmental measure being considered as part of a fiscal cliff deal. The Chamber, though, was a vocal opponent of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade legislation passed by the House in 2009.

While the primer is undoubtedly supportive of EOR, it does not make any specific policy recommendations for lawmakers. “There’s not a perfect [policy] ask here,” Christopher Guith, vice president for Policy at the Institute for 21st Century Energy, said in an interview. “It’s meant to just kind of put the issue on the table, certainly with our take on it, so people have a ready-made resource to go to for information on CO2-EOR.” The Chamber’s report comes in stark contrast to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and the Great Plains Institute’s National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative, which recommended several legislative fixes to help boost oil production via EOR.