By Stacey Tinsley, BIZ. Magazine
Amidst higher gas prices and turmoil over the oil and gas industry in Louisiana, the Bossier Chamber of Commerce hosted an energy policy update featuring guest speaker Christopher Guith.
Guith, senior vice-president of policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Energy Institute, discussed the effect of oil prices in the economy during the event held July 28 in Bossier City.
“The bottom line is, the structural supply in demand is not going to go away regardless of what happens in the economy. It’s going to be pervasive for years to come,” Guith said.
“We are all paying the price at the pump for gasoline and cringing at it, and people within the lower economic income scale in the country are really having to make some hard choices regarding how they are going to spend their disposable income. Diesel is what is really having an impact on the economy,” he added.
“The economists are talking now about if we are in a recession or not. The price of diesel has more impact on our economic growth than gasoline does because it is what drives our trade and business,” Guith concluded.
He noted that Louisiana ranks third in natural gas production. And, there is a continued increase in drilling in the local region, particularly in Bossier Parish.
Guith added, “Couple that with the talks of going green, electric cars, and electric power grids failing, it is easy to understand why energy talks are going on all around us at a local, state and national level.”