On January 7, 2014 — one of the coldest days in the past 20 years in Washington DC — Jack N. Gerard, President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API), provided his organization’s view of the State of American Energy 2014. He stressed the importance of American energy production to our national prosperity and security.

His speech also lays out the API’s plan to influence the mid term elections in 2014 to ensure that the voter choices made during those elections result in elected officials that will support policies considered vital to the oil and gas industry’s continued dominance of our energy supply options. As Mr. Gerard stated, the combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling technology — often abbreviated as ‘fracking’ — is at the core of the recent growth in US oil and natural gas output, which Gerard referred to as “America’s Energy Renaissance.”

He described the importance of approving the Keystone XL pipeline, passing laws that remove restrictions on crude oil and natural gas exports, and preventing the passage of laws that will ensure that fracking is undertaken with the proper amount of care for its effects on the environment and local habitats — including the rural human habitat that is such an important asset to some communities.

Gerard’s speech lasted until the 30 minute point on the video. In his prepared remarks, I only heard Jack mention the word “nuclear” one time. It appeared in his list of “all of the above” energy options and fell after oil, gas, coal, wind, and solar, but before geothermal and biomass.

PS – Gerard mentioned several times that jobs in the oil and natural gas industry pay 7 times the minimum wage. I found it difficult to believe that average oil and gas employees make $105,560 per year. ($7.25/hr x 7 x 2080 hours per year for a full time worker).

As is often said, Google is my friend. According to an April 2014 Wall Street Journal article titled The U.S. Energy Boom Lifts Low-Income Workers Too, Gerard actually understated average oil and gas annual wage. It averages $107,000 per year.