House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) today released the following statement after Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a new moratorium on offshore drilling:

“The Obama Administration’s latest attempt to impose a moratorium on offshore drilling will only cause further harm to Gulf State economies. Too many jobs have already been lost as a result of the Administration’s reckless moratorium and until it is lifted we will continue to see more American jobs sent overseas. The federal government needs to focus its attention on stopping the leak, cleaning up the oil and helping the impacted communities - not playing politics with peoples’ livelihoods and causing even greater economic damage. We must ensure that American offshore drilling is the safest in the world, but we should not make knee-jerk decisions that threaten jobs, the economy, energy independence and national security.”

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