House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after the Interior Department announced the approval of Noble Energy’s deepwater drilling permit:

“Over four months after the deepwater drilling moratorium was officially lifted in the Gulf of Mexico, the Administration is finally issuing the first permit. While this is good news, today’s action alone isn’t enough. The Administration must immediately move ahead with issuing other permits and comply with the recent judicial decision ordering the Administration to act. This one new permit will not ease the economic pain being inflicted on Gulf families. Thousands of people are still out of work in the Gulf and the threat of four dollar gasoline is looming over our struggling economy. A robust all-of-the-above energy plan that includes increased offshore energy production is needed to put Americans back to work and help insulate America from energy price spikes caused by unstable foreign countries.”

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