A report by an economist at the School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming says President-elect Joe Biden’s promised ban on oil and gas development on public lands would severely harm the economies of eight western states.
Timothy Considine released his findings in “The Fiscal and Economic Impacts of Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Lease Moratorium and Drilling Ban Policies,” on Monday, providing a depressing economic forecast for the states the states that have significant energy production from federal lands.
Considine produced the report under contract with the Wyoming Energy Authority, which is funded by the State of Wyoming.
Over the next four years, the human cost of fulfilling Biden’s campaign pledge would be:
- An average of 72,818 fewer jobs annually.
- Lost wages would total $19.6 billion
- Economic activity would decline $43.8 billion
- Tax revenues would drop $10.8 billion by the end of Biden’s first term in Alaska, California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
- By 2040, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would decline by $670.5 billion and average annual job losses would exceed 351,000 across the West.
The study says that Alaska, which ranks eighth in both oil and natural gas production on America’s public lands, would lose $226.4 billion in GDP over the next 20 years.
Between 2021 and 2024, a drilling ban would eliminate in Alaska:
- 3,334 jobs on average each year
- $1.4 billion in oil and natural gas investments
- production valued at $1.5 billion
- $383 million in tax revenue to the state
- $2.1 billion in GDP
- $964 million in wages.
The eight states provide over 97 percent of federal onshore production. If Biden closes off public lands to oil and gas, as he has promised, over the next 20 years the nation would experience:
- Average annual job losses reaching 351,555 by years 2036 through 2040
- GDP dropping by $670.5 billion
- Oil and natural gas investment plummeting $389 billion, leading to a loss of $502.6 billion worth of production
- The elimination of $159 billion in state tax revenues and $300 billion in lost wages.
