API

BLOGGER CONFERENCE CALLMODERATOR:

Jane Van Ryan, API

SPEAKERS:

Jack Gerard, President and CEO, APIJohn Felmy, Chief Economist, APIDoug Morris, APIKyle Isakower, API

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Transcript byFederal News ServiceWashington, D.C.

Bloggers on the call included Byron King from Whiskey & Gunpowder, Gail Tverberg from TheOil Drum, Geoff Styles from Energy Outlook, Lew Waters from Right in a Left World, Nan Swift from FreedomTalks and Robert Rapier from R-Squared.

00:13 JANE VAN RYAN: Hello, everybody. This is Jane Van Ryan at API. Thank you for joining us today. I have got in the room with me today Jack Gerard who is president andCEO of the American Petroleum Institute. And he is flanked by a variety of other people whoalso can help answer your questions. So we are going to get started in just a minute.Before we do that, let me call the roll, if I might, and find out who all we have on the callright now. Who would like to go first?00:39 ROBERT RAPIER: Yeah, Robert Rapier.00:41 MS. VAN RYAN: Great, Robert. How is weather in Hawaii today?00:45 MR. RAPIER: It is a little bit misty.00:47 MS. VAN RYAN: Ah, good reason to come in for a conference call then. Whoelse do we have on the line?00:52 GAIL TVERBERG: This is Gail Tverberg.00:55 MS. VAN RYAN: Hi, Gail. Thanks so much for joining us. Who else?00:56 NAN SWIFT: Nan Swift.00:58 MS. VAN RYAN: Great, Nan. All right, and next?01:03 BYRON KING: Byron King.01:04 MS. VAN RYAN: Good, Byron. Terrific. Glad you could join us as well. Andanyone else?01:09 GEOFF STYLES: Geoff Styles.01:10 MS. VAN RYAN: Hi, Geoff. Terrific. And who else do we have?01:16 LEW WATERS: Lew Waters.01:19 MS. VAN RYAN: Hi, Lew. Glad you could join us. Who else? (Pause.) Maybethat is it for now. I know that we have one person who is planning to join us late. And there

may be additional people that will be joining us. So why don’t we go ahead and get started?

If you remember how we do these things, we will be recording this blogger conferencecall. The audio file and a transcript will be placed online at energytomorrow.org, so you will beable to refer to that.Also, when you ask a question, please be sure to identify yourself first because that helpsus when we go back to write the transcript. And we will try to get the audio file and thetranscript posted by this time tomorrow. Okay? Here we go.Jack, would you like to start with an opening statement?02:05 MR. GERARD: Please. Thank you, Jane. And I thank each one of you for joining us today. Let me take just a moment if I can. As you know, energy has been in the newsand will continue to be in the news for some time. As we go into the fall now that Congress hasreturned a few weeks ago, it will be a very intense time. Although healthcare tends to dominatethe news, we think issue 1A is the climate question or a variety of other energy matters. So letme touch on kind of where we think things are at this point. And then maybe at that point, I willopen it up for some questions and some answers.One other thing that I would add that I think many of you are aware of and have talkedabout in the past is during the month of August, we were involved with some educationaloutreach with a variety of national partners from a variety of different groups

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small business tofarmers to truckers to the Chamber of Commerce to manufacturers. The list goes on.And the reason I raise that is it was fascinating to us, in fact, that we were a littlesurprised at the strong and enthusiastic interest in the area of energy. We held about 20 ralliesacross 19 states in the country in the month of August. And we were often amazed at the numberof people who showed up to express their views, particularly on the climate change issue.And the reason I raise that is I think the public, particularly in light of economicconsiderations right now, as we are still trying to restore the economy, are heavily focused onwhat it is going to cost them in the future and what it will cost them now to heat their homes, todrive their vehicles, to take care of their families now and in the future.So that is one area that we have been active in over the last 30 to 45 days. And see thatanxiousness, if you will, on the part of the American public continuing into the fall, particularlynow that the Congress returns.Three key areas that we are focused on and will continue to work on first is the climatelegislation. We adamantly oppose Waxman-Markey, as I think all of you are well aware. Webelieve it will cost jobs; dependent upon which report or analysis you read, I will say the clearmajority of analysis show that it will cost significant jobs

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somewhere around 2 million. Inaddition to that, it is concluded

we’ll

raise the price of energy, particularly gasoline. And thereare some estimates it would go over $4 a gallon in the current marketplace.So as a matter of climate policy, we think the House approach is wrong. We adamantlyoppose it. And we are calling on the Senate to get it right; to look at these fundamental issues.