House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement today regarding Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s announcement of new offshore wind projects in the mid-Atlantic:

“Offshore wind is an important part of a robust all-of-the-above energy plan. However, it’s unwise for the Obama Administration to exclusively focus on developing offshore wind in the Atlantic while ignoring the need for expanded oil and natural gas production. Despite the fact that some of most promising shallow water resources are in the Atlantic, the Administration has placed the entire coast off-limits to new offshore drilling and canceled the Virginia lease sale scheduled to take place this year. With gas prices steadily rising, the Administration must stop imposing regulations that lock-up valuable American energy resources that are necessary to create jobs, generate new federal and state revenue and decrease our reliance on energy from hostile, unstable foreign countries.”

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