House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement regarding the Department of Interior’s announcement that the Bureau of Land Management has finalized rules, first announced by Secretary Salazar last January, that will establish more government hurdles to onshore oil and natural gas production on federal lands:

“These new regulations aren’t aimed at improving drilling safety and will only lead to lost jobs by stifling American-made energy production. The bigger bureaucracy and more red-tape approach announced today will only serve to drive up the price of energy and cause further damage to our economy. 

“We need the new jobs and national security that comes with more American-made energy. That’s why Republicans’ support an all-of-the-above plan that invests in renewable wind and solar, new nuclear, and safer oil and natural gas production.  We can either produce more energy here and create American jobs, or send those jobs and more of our money overseas to hostile, unstable countries.” 

# # #

Print version of this document