Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr., (R-Southwest Louisiana), made the following statement after receiving a letter from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner regarding energy production jobs along the Gulf Coast.

 

“Thousands of families along the Gulf Coast depend on American energy production for their livelihood,” Boustany said.  “As the President is promising to cut energy emissions with a national energy tax hike, he’s jeopardizing good-paying American energy jobs.  Our economy depends on oil and gas, and the President’s policies will only increase our demand for foreign sources of fuel.”

 

Boustany, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, questioned Geithner in March and by letter earlier this month.  Energy production generates thousands of good-paying, blue-collar jobs along the Gulf Coast, an area that has been battered by natural disasters in recent years.  Boustany asked Secretary Geithner and the Administration to prove their claim of “saving jobs.”

 

Geithner writes, “…the [oil and gas production] credits must ultimately be financed with taxes that result in underinvestment in other, potentially more productive areas of the economy.”  What Geithner fails to mention – solar energy receives more than $24 in subsidies and wind energy receives more than $23 per megawatt hour according to the Energy Information Agency.

 

Boustany continued, “[t]he Administration simply chooses winners and losers when it comes to jobs.”

 

Boustany continues to advocate a comprehensive energy plan to create American jobs and decrease our dependence on foreign sources of fuel as the country transitions to new types of fuel sources over the coming years.

 

Click on the following links to view a copy of Boustany’s letter to Geithner and Geithner’s reply.

 

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