President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, chaired by Jeffrey Immelt, released its report and recommendations on how to create jobs and improve America’s competitiveness Tuesday. The report highlights the critical importance of domestic energy supplies, and unconventional oil and natural gas in particular, to the current and future survival of America’s economy. The Council called for an “all-in” federal energy policy, which optimizes all America’s natural resources, while protecting public health and welfare. The report also focuses on the need for widespread regulatory reform, noting that America has “slipped in some global rankings of business-friendliness.”

The report should be cautiously welcome news for oil and natural gas producers facing a constant barrage of critical press, increased regulation, and state and local drilling bans. The report signals that, at least for now in this election cycle, the Administration recognizes the critical role unconventional oil and natural gas will play in the staggering economic recovery. Other notable findings in the report include:

• The development of domestic resources, principally shale gas, can support hundreds of thousands of jobs
• Stakeholders (industry, regulators, and the environmental community) should develop best practices (as opposed to command and control regulation) as the most effective means of ensuring safe and timely domestic energy supply.
• Regulatory and permitting obstacles are threatening the development of energy projects, negatively impacting jobs, and weakening the economy.
• The government should allow more access to oil, natural gas, and coal on federal lands.
• Where shale gas has been uncovered, federal state, and local authorities should  encourage its safe and responsible extraction.
• Dependence on foreign oil can be significantly reduced by combining domestic  development with alternative vehicle promotion (including natural gas vehicles)
• Widespread regulatory reform and streamlining is needed, with a critical focus on robust cost-benefit analysis, which measures net benefit, and where possible, accounts for cumulative costs.
• Congress should require, where possible, agencies to undertake a cost-benefit analysis on current regulations.