Washington, Dec 1 -

Congressman Ted Poe (TX-02) issued the following statement in response to the administration’s new moratorium on offshore drilling leases in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, or Atlantic coasts through 2017. 

"The administration’s new ban on offshore drilling further proves they support a ‘none of the above’ approach to domestic energy independence.  The BP Deep Water Horizon tragedy has been irresponsibly used to further a far left political agenda.  We have been drilling safely in the Gulf for more than 50 years.  The United States is recognized as the foremost experts in this industry around the world.  This ban will not only devastate the hundreds of thousands of families that rely on the drilling and petrochemical industries all along the Gulf Coast, but will also drastically limit our nation’s energy needs for the future.

“In addition, this new ban will further our dependence on unfriendly foreign oil-rich nations and do nothing to advance the unproven alternative energy platform that is being forced on the American people.  The American people overwhelming support offshore drilling and this is one more example of big government doing what it wants to do versus what the majority of the people want.”