Release: More Time Wasted on Big Oil Giveaways

WASHINGTON, D.C – Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6082, the tongue-in-cheek named Congressional Replacement of President Obama’s Energy-Restricting and Job-Limiting Offshore Drilling Plan by a vote of 253-170. President Obama has issued a veto threat for this bill.

The bill will unnecessarily open nearly every last piece of our public lands to drilling. It forces East and West Coast states to permit drilling off their shores, even if the state opposes doing so. The bill also rushes additional leasing permit scrutiny in sensitive environments in the Arctic.

In comparison, President Obama’s offshore drilling plan makes more than 75 percent of our oil and gas resources available for drilling, and the Administration has just announced the first offshore sale under that plan. Oil imports are down to the lowest level in 17 years – dropping every single year since President Obama took office, from 57 to 45 percent of total consumption. Domestic oil production is at an 18-year high and more rigs are operating in the United States today than in the rest of the world combined.

However, oil and gas companies are sitting on nearly two-thirds of public lands they have leased for drilling, including 26 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico that hold about 18 billion barrels of oil.

In light of this vote, and the 90 hours wasted on the House floor and 142 individual votes taken this session of Congress, members of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) released the following statement:

“House Republicans have made it abundantly clear: we will not rest until we pass each item off of Big Oil’s wish list. Instead of focusing on long-term meaningful solutions that would drive down gas prices and continue to decrease our dependence on foreign oil, we voted yet again this week to keep alive the ‘drill, baby, drill’ slogan. But consumers deserve better than a slogan from Congress, they deserve answers. Answers that create long-term jobs, protect our beaches, wildlife and coastlines, and the air we breathe. American families are looking for action on the economy and jobs, including middle class tax cuts, but Republicans instead continue to fixate on giveaways to Big Oil. Enough is enough.”