Nearly 16 million Americans officially unemployed. “Real,” unofficial unemployment reportedly past 25 million. And another 11,000 Americans lost their jobs last month. You know what we need? We need a summit. That was the message offered by President Obama yesterday, joined at the White House by lots of folks who loved to be there (“Can I get a box of presidential M&M’s?!) – but not many who are actually on the frontlines of job creation in America today.

You know who is creating jobs, though? Creating jobs despite an aging workforce, winnowing access to resources, and the specter of confiscatory tax rates from the federal government? America’s energy producers. And even though that industry is responsible for more than nine million direct and indirect jobs in this country – and seven and a half percent of its GDP! – you’d have been hard pressed to find a single voice representing those interests at the White House yesterday. Wasn’t a single one of them there.

Guess it’d be sort of like convening a summit on annoying people and forgetting to invite folks like Joan Rivers and Carrot Top, are we right? Consider: One recent study found that 1.2 million jobs could be created if the Administration simply moved forward with a commonsense plan to unlock our nation’s offshore energy reserves.

Another study from the University of Alaska Anchorage study examined how many Alaskan jobs could be created if Washington would finally give us a green light to produce our energy resources safely offshore. Hope you’re sitting down while you’re reading this.

So, how are jobs are we talking? Economists say 35,000 — that’s more than 3 times as many jobs that were lost nationwide last month.

And in terms of payroll; ball park figure? Can you say $72 billion?

But what’s an enormous figure like that mean to every day Alaskans and Americans looking for work? These energy production jobs pay almost $110,000 each year — more than twice the national average income of $43,500.

These economists also determined that “OCS-related employment growth could more than offset losses from the decline of petroleum production on state lands and could help sustain the economy for several decades.”

Here are few key excerpts from the study entitled “Economic Analysis of Future O!shore Oil and Gas Development: Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, and North Aleutian Basin”:

Besides the direct jobs in the oil and gas sector, jobs would be created in other sectors of the economy; these jobs are referred to as indirect and induced jobs. These jobs are generated as a result of the multiplier effects of in-state spending—industry purchases from other Alaska businesses, government spending of OCS-related revenues, and household spending of wages and salaries.

It is estimated that total annual average employment from OCS development—including all the direct, indirect, and induced employment—could be about 35,000 per year on average through 2057, with a peak employment of over 50,000 in 2038. Total wages and salaries associated with OCS development over the 50-year period are estimated to be about $72 billion (2007$).

Remember earlier this year when the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. tossed out our nation’s existing five-year energy plan? The one governing the auctioning and sale of leases and the subsequent exploration and production of energy tied to those leases along America’s 1.76 billion acre outer continental shelf (OCS)? The one that not only iced out responsible energy exploration activities along Alaska’s OCS, but threatened to do the same in energy-rich areas in the Gulf of Mexico?

Late last night, the Court clarified its ruling to indicate that only Alaska’s OCS will be threatened by its capricious interpretation of the law – not the Gulf Coast’s. Here’s the AP’s take on the big news:

A federal appeals court ruling won’t stand in the way of new oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington clarified late Tuesday that its decision earlier this year to block some Bush-era drilling plans was meant to apply only to activity in Alaska, not the Gulf.

Uncertainty over the decision had raised questions about whether the Interior Department should move forward with a lease sale scheduled for Aug. 19 in some 18 million acres in the western Gulf near Texas. The Obama administration announced recently that it planned to hold the Gulf sale but acknowledged it might have to reverse course if the court directed it to.

Why did we create a site called What About Alaska? Consider this Exhibit A.

For a state so large that 420 Rhode Islands can fit inside it, and so wide that both America’s westernmost and easternmost points are found within it (see if you can figure that one out), it’s awfully easy sometimes to forget the massive contribution that Alaska makes to continued health and economic well being of the United States.

Maybe it’s the fact that 30 percent of the state resides above the Arctic Circle, or that only 683,000 people occupy a land of 665,000 square miles. But for far too long, far too many Lower 48’ers have known far too little about the fundamental role that Alaska plays in heating our homes, fueling our cars, and more generally, enriching our lives. And the tragedy of it all? Thirty-two years and 15 billion barrels since the first shipments of Alaskan oil arrived on the U.S. mainland, the state and its people have so much more to give.

So much more, that is, if we let them. Unfortunately, even as the vast majority of Alaskans support the responsible exploration for and development of their homegrown energy resources, courts and congressmen in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere have acted forcefully and creatively to deny full and fair access to the billions of barrels of American oil and trillions of cubic feet of American natural gas that consumers need to raise their standards of living, and improve their quality of life.

The state flower of Alaska is the Forget-Me-Not, and on this site it’s a command we intend to follow with care. Along the way, we hope to educate our friends, foes, and casual onlookers alike about the critical link between responsibly developing Alaska’s natural resources, and the growing our economy in a way that puts Americans back to work, and stands as a bulwark against the encroachment of our reliance on foreign energy. All while protecting our environment and reducing our footprint.

To do that, we’ve included a library section capturing the latest and greatest studies, research papers and fact sheets on Alaska’s energy potential, along with a news and views section that brings together some of the perspectives on these issues that are informing the policy debate across the country. It’s a debate in which we hope you will participate, and one this new online platform seeks to facilitate.

Welcome to “What About Alaska?”. Welcome to the future of American energy.