OREANDA-NEWS. July 02, 2015. The American energy renaissance hasn’t occurred in a vacuum.

The production of oil and natural gas has always been affected by the policies and regulations that officials put in place in Washington, the state capitals, and even at the county, city, and town levels.

With the 2016 election cycle drawing nearer, Energy Tomorrow’s Mark Green reminds us of the importance of choosing policymakers “who recognize the generational opportunities afforded by American energy.”

After all, American prosperity as well as America’s global influence depend largely on the energy sources developed and produced in Alaska, California, Colorado, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, and elsewhere throughout the United States.

For these reasons, a new Wood Mackenzie study is particularly useful. Sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, it compares the likely impacts of taking a pro-energy development approach with the outcome from adopting policies that inhibit energy development.

As this chart makes clear, pro-energy policies lead to dramatic economic growth, job creation, and increased government tax revenues, not to mention lower household energy costs. Policies to restrict energy development are bad news for the economy on a number of levels.

WoodMackenzie Chart

Helpfully, Wood Mackenzie identifies many of the policies in question, most having to do with permitting, access to resources, infrastructure such as Keystone XL, energy exports, and a flood of proposed regulations.

What the study makes clear as crystal is that the direction American energy development takes in the next several decades could be set by public policies determined in the next several years.

The beautiful thing about democracy is that the public has the opportunity to become informed, to debate, and to make choices based on shared priorities. Whether voters – and the policymakers they select – make the right choices is never guaranteed. But with this new comprehensive study, at least a pathway forward has been illuminated.