WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Pete Olson (R-Sugar Land) today issued the following statement in response to the latest attempt to ban offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico:

“The Obama Administration’s latest attempt to continue a job killing blanket deep water offshore drilling moratorium is senseless. Two separate federal court reviews of the previous ban demonstrated the federal government did not have sufficient evidence to support such a ban. The 33 impacted rigs have already undergone additional inspections and are willing to conduct any additional inspections necessary to begin or resume drilling operations. 

“The first of the impacted rigs announced Friday it will leave U.S. waters for Egypt, taking hundreds of jobs with it. The Administration’s continued resistance to common sense safety in offshore drilling is baffling. Real jobs and energy production are at stake. Magnifying the economic pain already impacting the Gulf Coast due to the oil spill makes no sense. I am confident further judicial scrutiny will prove that the President needs to lift this senseless moratorium before additional rigs set sail taking thousands more jobs with them.”
 

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