March 29, 2011

Dear Colleague,

House Republicans’ American Energy Initiative is an ongoing effort to expand American energy production to create American jobs and to stop the Obama Administration policies that are raising energy prices.

As Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, I’m focused on increasing energy production offshore and on federal lands. Today, I am introducing three bills to reverse specific actions taken by the Obama Administration to block offshore energy production.

The first is the Putting the Gulf Back to Work Act, which will end the Obama Administration’s de facto moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico in a safe, responsible and transparent manner. The bill saves American jobs by preventing deliberate government inaction and bureaucratic stalling by setting a 30-day timeline for the Secretary of the Interior to act on permits to drill. Ending the moratorium in the Gulf will have an immediate impact on both jobs and energy production.

The second bill is the Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act, which will expand American energy production and create jobs by requiring the Secretary to conduct three lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one in offshore Virginia. These sales were previously scheduled but the Obama Administration has acted to cancel and delay sales. In fact, due to the Obama Administration’s actions, 2011 will be the first year since 1958 that no offshore lease sales will be held.

The third bill is the Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act. In 2008, in response to record high gasoline prices, both Congress and President Bush lifted long-standing moratoria on offshore drilling. However, since taking office President Obama has effectively reinstated a ban on new drilling by placing the entire Atlantic Coast, the entire Pacific Coast and much of Alaska off-limits.

This bill lifts the Obama Moratorium by requiring the Administration to lease in areas containing the most oil and natural gas and sets a goal of producing 3 million barrels of oil per day, and 10 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day by 2027. By comparison to today’s levels, this increase in oil equates to a tripling of current American offshore production, and would reduce foreign imports by nearly one-third.

These bills are just the first three of an array that will be introduced as part of the American Energy Initiative—including bills focused on expanding renewable energy, onshore production, hydropower, coal and critical minerals.

We must unlock our American energy resources to decrease our dependence on foreign energy, create jobs, lower gasoline prices, and protect our national security. If you are interested in co-sponsoring one or all of the aforementioned bills, please contact Amanda Tharpe with the Natural Resources Committee at 202-225-9297.

For more specific information on each of these bills, go to /AmericanEnergy .

Sincerely,

Doc Hastings
Chairman
House Natural Resources Committee

Read the full Dear Colleague HERE.