Pallone Assails President Bush for Lifting Offshore Drilling Ban

Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issued the following statement this afternoon after President Bush announced he was lifting an offshore drilling moratorium executive order that had been extended until 2012 by President Clinton.

The New Jersey congressman is the lead sponsor of the Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism (COAST) Anti-Drilling Act that would permanently extend the existing moratorium on oil and gas drilling off the Jersey Shore and all North and Mid-Atlantic states from Maine to North Carolina.

"Rather than offering any meaningful or immediate relief to consumers feeling pain at the pump, President Bush once again chooses to side with his friends in Big Oil.

"Today's action will do absolutely nothing to lower gas prices in the near future. In fact, the President's own Energy Information Administration says that opening up new areas for drilling will not affect production or prices for nearly 20 years, and even then, it concludes 'any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.'

"By lifting the moratorium, President Bush is putting New Jersey's environment and tourism economy at risk. All it takes is one incident of industrial pollution to seriously jeopardize our shoreline.

"This is nothing more than one last gift to Big Oil before he leaves office next January. For seven years President Bush and Washington Republicans have allowed Big Oil to write their energy policy. The result----record profits for Big Oil and record prices at the pump for the American consumer.

"If President Bush wants to provide Americans immediate relief at the pump, he should release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and force Big Oil to begin drilling on 68 million acres of land they already have leased."