If all federal lands not open to drilling were freed up, the ensuing rush of energy production could contribute $20.7 trillion to the nation’s economy in less than four decades.
Joe Mason, a banking professor at Louisiana State University and a senior fellow at the Wharton Business School, determined opening all federal lands to oil, gas and coal production — including national parks and monuments — would be a massive stimulus to the nation’s economy.
The study was done on behalf of the pro-fossil fuel group Institute for Energy Research.
Mason said the study, which is an update on a similar study done two years ago, shows the costs of closing down federally controlled land to energy production.
“We’d have to admit we would be willing to forego $20.7 trillion in gross domestic product over 37 years, 81 million jobs over 37 years … before trying to make those up in other energy sectors,” he said.
The study was released the same day Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic candidate for president, proposed banning fracking, taxing carbon emissions, ending tax breaks for fossil fuel companies and investing heavily in clean energy.
Tom Pyle, executive of the Institute for Energy Research, said Sanders’ plan doesn’t take into account the importance of energy production to the nation’s economy. It would cripple the American energy sector, he said.
“We’re here to show … these policies have consequences, real consequences,” he said.
According to the study, immediately opening all federal lands to leasing for oil, gas and coal production would increase the GDP $127 billion annually for the next seven years and $663 billion annually for the 30 years after that. The estimates include “spillover effects,” defined by the study as “gains that extend from one location to another location” and across different sectors of the economy.
Mason estimates 552,000 jobs would be created annually for the next seven years and then 2.7 million jobs would be created annually for the 30 years after that.
Opening up all federal lands to energy production would lead to $32 billion more in wages in the next seven years and $163 billion more annually in wages in the next three decades.
Mason said the initial seven years would show slower growth because infrastructure would need to be built, which would cost companies money. However, after that infrastructure was built, profits would rise and economic activity would increase, he said.
