House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced onerous new government red tape that will discourage production of 1.5 trillion barrels of American oil shale.

“Since taking office, President Obama has stalled, delayed and hindered oil shale research and development projects that could allow access to 1.5 trillion barrels of American oil—enough to provide the United States with energy for the next two hundred years. President Obama has already locked up 87 percent of America’s oil shale from production and today the Obama Administration took another giant step backwards with new regulations that discourage production of the available oil shale, sends oil shale jobs overseas and prolongs our dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

Oil shale deposits in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming may hold more than six times Saudi Arabia’s proven oil resources, which is why last Congress, the Republican House of Representatives passed the PIONEERS Act, to provide clear and certain rules for domestic investment in oil shale research. Today, President Obama turning his back  on new innovation by driving investment overseas and hurting America’s energy security.

Yet again, the Obama Administration talks as if they are fostering American-made energy when their actions actually block new production and drive new jobs away from federal lands.”