The Non-Green Jobs Boom

On the way to the coffee shop this morning I was listening to the local NPR news and it was an interview about alternative energy sources in Ohio. It was an excellent presentation and very balanced. The guest (don't know his name) said 2 things worth remembering: 1) alternative energy production in Ohio now exceeds that of nuclear; and 2) by 2025 we are required by law to have a quarter of our energy from non-fossil fuel sources.

So this article in today's WSJ is timely.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported recently that the U.S. jobless rate remains a dreadful 9%. But look more closely at the data and you can see which industries are bucking the jobless trend. One is oil and gas production, which now employs some 440,000 workers, an 80% increase, or 200,000 more jobs, since 2003. Oil and gas jobs account for more than one in five of all net new private jobs in that period. . .

Good news? You'd think so, but liberals can't seem to handle this truth so they are now trying to discredit the jobs that accompany it. The American Petroleum Institute recently commissioned a study by the Wood Mackenzie consulting firm, which estimated that better federal energy policy would create an additional 1.4 million jobs by 2030. . .

The Office of Natural Resources Revenue recently noted that federal revenue from offshore bonus bids (from lease sales) in fiscal 2011 was merely $36 million—down from $9.5 billion in fiscal 2008. The Obama Administration has managed the nearly impossible feat of turning energy policy into a money loser, pouring taxpayer dollars into green-energy busts like Solyndra. The Washington Post reported in September that Mr. Obama's $38.6 billion green loan program had created a mere 3,500 jobs over two years. He had predicted it would "save or create" 65,000.

Review & Outlook: The Non-Green Jobs Boom - WSJ.com#printMode