Obama Administration Imposes Five-Year Drilling Ban on Majority of Offshore Areas

Press Release

After imposing a nearly three-year moratorium on new offshore drilling by discarding the 2010-2015 lease plan that allowed for new development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), the Obama Administration announced a draft plan today that closes the majority of the OCS to new energy production through 2017. The Administration's draft five-year plan prohibits new offshore drilling and only allows lease sales to occur in areas that are already open. The draft plan includes lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic -- leaving portions of Alaska and the entire Atlantic and Pacific Coasts off-limits to new energy production and job creation.

"In 2008, a bipartisan agreement was reached to lift the decades-long ban on new offshore drilling and open new areas off the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coasts. Since President Obama took office, he has systematically taken steps to re-impose an offshore drilling moratorium and today he is one step closer to making that a reality for the next five years," said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings. "The Obama Administration's draft plan places some of the most promising energy resources in the world off-limits and indefinitely abandons the scheduled lease sale off the coast of Virginia that was supposed to take place last year.

"No new drilling or new lease sales will occur during President Obama's term in office -- despite the overwhelming support of the American people for new offshore energy production. The President's plan is to simply say "no' to new energy production and "no' to new American jobs created by new offshore drilling. It's a plan that is sending American jobs overseas, forfeiting new revenue, and denying access to American energy that would lessen our dependence on hostile Middle Eastern oil.

"Developing the United State's offshore resources would create over a million jobs, generate billions in revenue and significantly reduce foreign oil imports. It's been six months since the House has passed bipartisan bills to reverse the Obama moratorium and allow new offshore drilling and the Democrat-controlled Senate has failed to act."

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