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Ivey chosen as chairwoman of the Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has been selected as chairwoman of the Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition. Ivey was chosen by fellow coalition governors on Wednesday to serve a two-year term as chair of the group.

The Coalition, formed in 2011 as a bipartisan effort to advance safe offshore energy development through responsible resource management, as part of a comprehensive national energy policy. The Coalition has been a leader on state and federal discussions and coordination for offshore energy issues and environmental protection.

“I’m thrilled to become the next chairwoman of the OCS Governors Coalition,” Governor Ivey said. “Alabama and the nation benefit when we are all working together to ensure we can meet our energy needs now and well into the future. I look forward to working with my fellow governors at a time when U.S. energy production is transforming our economy here at home and changing political calculations around the world.”

This group brings together a cross-section of coastal governors to share information and speak collectively to federal officials about the best ways to manage our abundant offshore resources: wind and wave as well as oil and natural gas.

Energy development in the Gulf of Mexico is a major economic driver for the state of Alabama. With the new federal leasing program expected in early 2019, members of the Coalition will work together to advance offshore leasing for wind and oil and natural gas for the Eastern, Central and Western Gulf.

The OCS Governor Coalition is currently comprised of the governors of Alabama, Alaska, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi and Texas.

America has experienced an energy renaissance that has reshape nth world in which we live. In the 1970s America was rocked by an oil embargo by Arab countries due to our support for Israel and then again by the fall of our ally in the region, the Shah of Iran. The U.S. has literally fought wars to keep the oil flowing from that region of the world. Today the United States is the world’s largest oil producer and the USA exports more oil and natural gas than it imports. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the revolution initially took place outside the public eye, led by relatively unknown companies making huge technological leaps thousands of feet underground. The energy revolution began quietly, mostly on private and state lands, but momentum built up quickly. It occurred as a result of the work of entrepreneurs and the application of technology and cutting edge innovation. This was unanticipated by the government and arguably took place in spite of, not because of, U.S. energy policy.

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The impacts of the energy revolution are everywhere, turning energy markets on their heads, underpinning a historic resurgence in manufacturing, shifting the center of gravity of energy geopolitics, and improving our international competitiveness and balance of trade. It’s a far cry from the situation that existed as recently as 2008, when energy scarcity was the prevailing theme and peak energy theories dominated conventional political discourse. Those days are over.

America’s booming energy sector has contributed to fuel prices plummeting to levels most thought impossible ten years ago. Manufacturing in the U.S. is booming largely because as manufacturing becomes more automated energy becomes a more important cost than labor, thus the U.S. with our suddenly abundant energy availability is a much more desirable location to do business than a developing world location with unlimited labor availability; but without the virtually unlimited access to affordable energy that the American economy now possesses.

The Trump Administration has opened up millions of more offshore acres to oil and gas exploration so hopefully the U.S. economy can continue to lead the world in energy productions for decades to come/

According to recent polling, Ivey is the third most popular governor in the country and was easily elected to her own term as governor last month.

Brandon Moseley is a former reporter at the Alabama Political Reporter.

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