House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement regarding the Obama Administration’s announcement that they are placing the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast off-limits to new offshore drilling in the next five-year plan:

“The Administration is taking the wrong approach in responding to the BP spill and creating energy and energy jobs in this country.  The answer isn’t to give up and say, ‘America can’t figure it out, we’ll rely on other countries to produce our energy.’  The answer is to find out what went wrong and make effective, timely reforms to ensure that U.S. offshore drilling is the safest in the world.

“This plan to lock-up vast portions of America’s offshore energy resources is short-sighted and will lead to long-term job impacts, economic harm and increased reliance on foreign energy from dangerous and hostile countries.  We need to keep and create these jobs in America, and we need to get serious about producing more American-made energy.  

“The areas being closed by the Administration contain some of the most promising and accessible shallow water resources anywhere.  By closing these areas, the Administration continues the misguided policy of limiting offshore energy development to only a fraction of the Gulf of Mexico and only in deeper and deeper water.

“The Deepwater Horizon spill was a terrible tragedy, but this is a great country and we shouldn’t allow this single event to disrupt our long-term need for an all-of-the-above energy plan that includes the responsible development of our nation’s oil and gas resources.”

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