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Statement on Interior Department's New Oil and Gas Leasing Plan

Statement

Date: Dec. 1, 2010
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Oil and Gas

Congressman Jim Moran, Northern Virginia Democrat and Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, issued the following statement regarding Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar's release of a revised federal oil and gas leasing plan for the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

"I offer my praise for the new revised OCS drilling plan. It clearly reflects the lessons learned from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster and recognizes the inherent risks of drilling in environmentally restricted areas and where economic and national security interests are in conflict. The Defense Department has expressed strong reservations about drilling off Virginia's coast, finding it incompatible with military operations and readiness. With this action by the Secretary, no drilling will occur off the Mid-Atlantic and Virginia through 2017.

"The announcement confines new drilling to areas adjacent to where drilling is already established and where the new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) and the oil and gas industry should be concentrating their resources to ensure another BP disaster is avoided."

"I have long opposed drilling offshore, and included a congressional moratorium in the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill that was approved by the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, which I chair, on July 22, 2010. I also remain concerned that drilling in the Arctic, given its severe weather conditions and remote location, will challenge the credibility of any oil spill response plan. I will continue to cast a critical eye on any new plans in the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea."

"We will never achieve energy independence by drilling for more oil on land or at sea -- even if we open up every restricted area to drilling. To pursue such a reckless policy only advances the day we exhaust our limited reserves and undermines our effort to transition to cleaner and more sustainable alternative sources of energy."


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