If you’re an oil and gas worker in the United States, recent news may have you hopeful that new energy projects could lead to an increase in jobs in the sector. However, experts warn that there’s a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the path forward.
According to a recent E&E News article by Hannah Northey, “[t]he Interior Department [recently] laid out a path…for truncating environmental reviews tied to many projects, including mining and oil and gas.”
For example, “[t]he Interior Department announced…that it will use emergency procedures to limit the completion of environmental assessments that can take about a year to just 14 days. Projects requiring a full environmental impact statement, which is usually a two-year process, will be reviewed in less than a month.”
According to the Interior Department, “[p]rojects tied to the production of crude oil, natural gas, critical minerals, uranium, lease condensates, coal, biofuels, geothermal energy, kinetic hydropower and refined petroleum products will be eligible for the quicker permitting process.”
What’s behind this plan “to fast-track the permitting of a host of energy projects?” “Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in a statement said the move is a direct response to President Donald Trump’s declaration of an energy emergency in January.”
In fact, “[t]he Interior Department said it will also tap into emergency authorities under existing regulations — the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act — to accelerate reviews and possibly approvals.”
But this is where things get a bit hazy, because many oil and gas experts have been quick to question the existence of this so-called “energy emergency.” For example, according to a recent Industry Week article by Stephen Gold, “over the past two decades the United States has evolved from a degree of foreign-energy dependency that threatened our economy and national security to the premier energy producer in the world.”
In a Natural Resources Defense Council article by Jenny Shalant, the author notes that “[t]he United States is the world’s leading producer of oil and gas—and a leading exporter too. We ship out more oil than Saudi Arabia, Russia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and any other petro-state on the map.”
“NRDC senior attorney Gillian Giannetti, who specializes in interstate gas transit and other federal energy issues” believes that “[t]here is a bit of hypocrisy in declaring a domestic energy emergency while we flood international markets with fossil fuels. We’re the world’s number one exporter of oil and gas, and we have an energy emergency? What is this based on? There isn’t a there, there.”
Shalant notes that “there’s been no sudden crash of oil and gas reserves” and “[a]s for Alaska, huge amounts of oil are already set to begin flowing from the North Slope, where ConocoPhillips is constructing its massive Willow Project.”
Moreover, “the U.S. fossil fuel industry has no dearth of resources for future growth: It retains access to 11 million acres of public waters previously leased to them—three-quarters of which remain unused. Even without new leases for offshore drilling, the country’s oil production rate is expected to remain steady through 2035.”
All of these facts lead many oil and gas experts to wonder about the necessity of fast-tracking new energy projects. Can the sector grow that much more quickly than it already has over the past decade? Are oil and gas companies chomping at the bit to expand and take on even more projects?
Regardless of the uncertainty surrounding these new attempts to fast-track approval of new projects, one thing is for certain: any new projects—fast-tracked or not—will require skilled oil and gas workers. Moving forward, companies will need to continue to hire skilled workers while also upskilling current workers.
So how do oil and gas companies improve their focus on technical skills? For new and current employees, the answer is technical training. Oil and gas workers need both fundamental knowledge and hands-on technical skills with real industrial equipment they’ll encounter on the job. Be sure to check out Bayport Technical’s wide variety of hands-on oil and gas training systems to take your oil and gas training to the next level!
