Joint Letter in Support of OCS Bill

Full Document Available in PDF

June 28, 2006

Dear Member of Congress:

Rising energy costs are taking their toll on millions of American households.  Price increases for natural gas in particular have created an enormous burden on the over 60 million American homes that depend on natural gas for heating, as well as the 90 percent of new power plants that depend on natural gas.

Increased energy production in the Outer-Continental Shelf would lead to lower energy prices and help strengthen the American economy.  These are goals that every member of Congress should be fighting to achieve.

According to the U.S. Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service, the offshore areas currently banned from development likely contain a mean estimate of 18.92 billion barrels of oil and 85.79 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that are “technically recoverable.” 

Yet the United States is the only developed country in the world that bans development of most of its offshore gas resources. 

This self-imposed ban has put our nation at a competitive disadvantage with Cuba and China.  Cuba recently announced that it has negotiated lease agreements with China to explore oil and gas production just 50 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida.  The United States can’t develop resources in the Florida Straits, yet Cuba and China can.

For too long the federal government has tied the hands of state governments that wish to permit oil and natural gas leasing in their adjacent offshore zones.  Congress should remove the moratoria on offshore gas production and share the federal royalties with the States that decide to allow offshore production, just as they share the royalties from production on federal lands with the States.

Sincerely,

David A. Ridenour          Myron Ebell, Director                  Grover Norquist

Vice President   Energy & Global Warming Policy            President

National Center for Public Policy Research           Competitive Enterprise Institute   Americans for Tax Reform

 

J. William Lauderback    Paul M. Weyrich                        Thomas A. Schatz

Executive Vice President            National Chairman                      President

The American Conservative Union            Coalitions for America                Council for Citizens Against Gov’t Waste

 

Matt Kibbe        H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D.                       Stephen J. Entin

President and CEO        Senior Fellow                 President and Exec. Director

FreedomWorks  National Center for Policy Analysis          Inst. for Research on the Econ. of Taxation

 

Karl Peterjohn    Kenneth W. Chilton, Ph.D.                      Milt Copulos

Executive Director          Director, Institute for Study of                  President

Kansas Taxpayers Network        Economics and the Environment*            National Defense Council Foundation

 

Niger Innis         James L. Martin             Forest Thigpen

National Spokesman      President                      President

Congress of Racial Equality        60 Plus Association                   Mississippi Center for Public Policy

 

Drew Johnson    John Taylor                    John McClaughry

President          President                      President

Tennessee Center for Policy Research     Virginia Institute for Public Policy            Ethan Allen Institute

 

Tom DeWeese   Gregory M. Cohen                      Bruce Chapman

President          President and CEO                    President

American Policy Center  American Highway Users Alliance           Discovery Institute

 

George Landrith Jon Reisman                 C. Preston Noell III

President          Adjunct Fellow               President

Frontiers of Freedom      Maine Heritage Policy Center                  Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

 

Jim Sims           William J. Murray                       E. Calvin Beisner

Executive Director          Chairman                      Assoc. Prof. Hist. Theology & Soc. Ethics          

Partnership for America  Religious Freedom Action Coalition         Knox Theological Seminary

 

Tom Borelli        Richard O. Rowland                   William Greene 

Portfolio Manager           President                      President         

Free Enterprise Action Fund       Grassroot Institute of Hawaii                   RightMarch.com                       

 

Paul K. Driessen            Fred Grau                      Michael S. Coffman

Senior Policy Advisor     Executive Director                      President

Cmte. for a Constructive Tomorrow          Take Back Pennsylvania             Environmental Perspectives, Inc.

 

Candace Oathout           Leroy Watson                Howard Hutchinson

Chair     Legislative Director                     Executive Director

Citizens Against Recreation Eviction-USA            National Grange             Coalition of AZ/NM Counties

 

R. Holt and Jane N. Hogan          Thomas H. Werth

Ontario Hardwood Co., Inc.         U.S. Army Retired

 

*Institute is located at Lindenwood University and listed for identification purposes only.