Vitter, DeMint, Barrasso Introduce Amendment to Prevent Delay of OCS Program

Press Release

U.S. Sens. David Vitter, Jim DeMint and John Barrasso today introduced an amendment to the Interior-Environment Appropriations bill that would prohibit funds in the bill from being used to delay the implementation of the 2010-2015 Draft Proposed Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. Last week, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar stated that he had no plans to make any decisions regarding drilling on the OCS in the near future.

"I was very concerned with Secretary Salazar's comments last week regarding offshore drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf," said Vitter. "Last year, the prohibitions on OCS drilling expired, allowing us to move ahead with a more sensible approach to gas and energy exploration that would allow us to greatly reduce costs on American families. Any further delay would stall that progress we made in clearing the way for increased exploration on the OCS."

Vitter, DeMint and Barrasso's amendment would prevent officials at the Department of the Interior from using appropriated funds to delay the Bush OCS program, which would open up new areas throughout the United States for energy exploration.

"Americans won an end to the ban on offshore drilling last year, but this administration has done nearly everything it can to obstruct access to our own oil and gas. While the President has promised $2 billion taxpayer dollars to help Brazil finance oil exploration, Americans are still waiting for action here at home. Every delay by Secretary Salazar delays new jobs and lower energy prices that Americans desperately need. American families and businesses cannot wait any longer, Congress must pass this amendment to end the administration's delays on accessing America's own energy supplies," said DeMint.

"Delaying responsible development of our offshore energy resources hinders our ability to provide American energy. Demand for energy will only increase. Instead of trying to pick energy winners and losers, we need to focus on developing all of America's abundant energy resources," Barrasso said. "Accessing American energy means creating American jobs. I believe we need to foster red, white and blue jobs as well as green jobs."

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