Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05) issued the following statement following the announcement today by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar that he is lifting his ban on deepwater drilling that he imposed in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

“I welcome this news, but am concerned it may be an election eve political stunt, rather than a true reversal of a disastrous drilling policy.

“Buried in the fine print of today’s announcement, are new federal regulations and red tape for our energy producers. Some of the new requirements are not clearly set forward, and will no doubt result in continued regulatory uncertainty.

“My fear is that the Administration will claim they have lifted the ban, but impose a de facto ban by holding up drilling permits in a maze of red tape. This will mean thousands of oil workers will remain out-of-work as energy producers wait for permits. A spokesman for the Department of the Interior today said he could not make any predictions on how soon permits would be granted.

“I am concerned the administration will seek to further their destructive, anti-energy policies during a lame duck session of Congress next month by trying to shove through a new national energy tax in the form of a cap-and-trade-style bill. I recently sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking them to commit to Members of Congress and to the American public that this approach will not be pursued.

“Our economy will continue to drag with this anti-business mentality coming from this administration.”– Doug Lamborn (CO-05)

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