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“Today marks the one year anniversary of American Energy Freedom Day.  President George W. Bush rescinded a 20 year old restriction on energy leasing in 85 percent of American waters known as the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) on October 1, 2008. 

One year later, the Obama Administration including Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar are looking to delay the proposed plan for an additional three years.  This is especially frustrating because it takes over four years to begin production on an oil or gas lease, with the total process taking up to 10 years when all of the environmental permitting, National Environmental Policy Act analysis, drilling permits, drilling, building infrastructure and producing the oil or natural gas is completed.

The OCS is estimated to have reserves of 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (tcf), and currently provides 23 percent of America’s natural gas resources and 30 percent of our oil resources.

According to a recent study by the Heritage Foundation, increasing domestic production by 1 million barrels alone would reduce imported petroleum costs by $123 billion and generate an additional $7.7 billion in economic activity.  The study shows that the net gain to the economy would be $105 billion and that the impact on employment would be an increase of 128,000 jobs. Research from the American Energy Alliance shows that increasing OCS production could sustain, in total, about 1.2 million new, full times jobs per year over 30 years, in addition to $8 trillion in economic output and $70 billion in additional wages. 

The OCS is the first step in a long process for the United States to become energy independent, specifically from Middle Eastern countries.  Not only will the OCS provide us with the energy our nation needs for many years, it will also serve as an economic catalyst to jump start our economy.  I am encouraging President Obama and his administration to move forward as quickly as possible in opening the OCS for drilling and recovery.”