Offshore Moratorium
The Obama Administration’s decision to place a moratorium on offshore energy production until 2017 threatens job growth and economic development for South Carolina.
With advances in technology and stringent standards and procedures based on decades of experience — we have the resources and know-how to safely and efficiently develop our domestic resources to create jobs, revenue and energy security for our nation.
In 2008, Congress allowed a 26-year federal moratorium on offshore energy production to expire.
In early 2009, the Bush Administration issued a proposed five-year plan for increasing offshore energy production. The proposal called for five leases, beginning in 2011, off the Atlantic Coast, including areas off the South Carolina coast.
This proposal was never fully put into effect by the Obama Administration, but in March 2010, the Administration opened up some areas for offshore oil and natural gas exploration.
Following the Deepwater Horizon spill, however, the Administration ordered a six-month suspension on the issuance of permits for new deepwater oil and gas wells, suspended the exploration in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas until 2011, canceled the August lease sale in the western Gulf of Mexico and the proposed lease sale off the coast of Virginia, and halted activity on 33 deep water wells being drilled in the Gulf of Mexico.
Then, in December 2010, the Obama Administration placed a moratorium on offshore production in the Atlantic and Eastern Gulf of Mexico through 2017.
The Deepwater Horizon incident was tragic, and the industry is continuing to work with the government to improve standards and regulations to increase the safety of workers and the environment. The moratorium, however, is preventing us from tapping the new energy resources we need to meet America’s growing energy demand, boost our flagging economy, and increase our energy and national security.
Research shows the overwhelming majority of Americans (72% in a recent Rasmussen Reports survey) support increasing offshore production and feel it is the right thing to do.
The effort to end obstacles to development has drawn overwhelming public support. As the country and policy-makers are asking for greater access to domestic energy supplies, we need greater bipartisan support to actually do just that. Policymakers need to understand the impact these domestic oil and natural gas resources will have on every sector of our economy and in every household in America.
