trx310R#24
06-28-2008, 04:32 PM
President Bush has been urged in a letter to do away with the moratorium on offshore drilling in the U.S.
The Institute for Energy Research sent the letter to President Bush urging him to exercise his authority to repeal the Executive Order banning energy production on America's outer continental shelf. The ban has been in effect since 1990. Congress also passes a similar ban on offshore drilling on a yearly basis.
Brian Kennedy is senior vice president for public affairs with the Institute for Energy Research. He argues the rationale behind his group's request that he believes would force Congress to take a longer view.
"We've gone ahead and asked the president to lead by ripping up the executive moratorium," Kennedy explains. "That would create a situation whereby the Congress would have to come up with a long-term strategy – not some annual ban that expires every year, but a long-term plan that would put some common sense and some flexibility into our offshore energy laws."
He wonders why the ban is still in place, seeing that China has plans to drill for energy 60 miles off the U.S. coastline. "The Cuban government has entered into contracts with China and a few other countries to begin to look at producing energy at the offshore, just 60 or so miles from the United States," says the Institute spokesman. "The U.S. is the only developed country in the world that restricts access to its offshore energy resources in the way that we do. It is what one senator called 'economic and strategic masochism.'"
Kennedy also contends there is no justifiable or defensible reason for the government to be restricting access to these supplies, especially considering the current energy situation. According to a Reuters article, House Republicans have recently vowed to push for more energy development within the United States. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) says Republicans will fight every single day over the next five months to hold the Democrats accountable for their "dismal record on producing more energy" in the U.S.
The Institute for Energy Research sent the letter to President Bush urging him to exercise his authority to repeal the Executive Order banning energy production on America's outer continental shelf. The ban has been in effect since 1990. Congress also passes a similar ban on offshore drilling on a yearly basis.
Brian Kennedy is senior vice president for public affairs with the Institute for Energy Research. He argues the rationale behind his group's request that he believes would force Congress to take a longer view.
"We've gone ahead and asked the president to lead by ripping up the executive moratorium," Kennedy explains. "That would create a situation whereby the Congress would have to come up with a long-term strategy – not some annual ban that expires every year, but a long-term plan that would put some common sense and some flexibility into our offshore energy laws."
He wonders why the ban is still in place, seeing that China has plans to drill for energy 60 miles off the U.S. coastline. "The Cuban government has entered into contracts with China and a few other countries to begin to look at producing energy at the offshore, just 60 or so miles from the United States," says the Institute spokesman. "The U.S. is the only developed country in the world that restricts access to its offshore energy resources in the way that we do. It is what one senator called 'economic and strategic masochism.'"
Kennedy also contends there is no justifiable or defensible reason for the government to be restricting access to these supplies, especially considering the current energy situation. According to a Reuters article, House Republicans have recently vowed to push for more energy development within the United States. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) says Republicans will fight every single day over the next five months to hold the Democrats accountable for their "dismal record on producing more energy" in the U.S.