Washington, DC – In a letter to President Obama, U.S. Congressman Charles W. Boustany, Jr., MD (R-South Louisiana) today highlighted the job creation opportunities from increased drilling and energy production. Boustany demanded the inclusion of an expeditious and consistent permitting process in Obama’s jobs proposal to Congress:     
 

In your speech to a Joint Session of Congress you noted several ideas for job creation.  As you send proposed legislation for Congress to consider, I urge you to include a path for our domestic energy producers to create thousands of good-paying jobs at no cost to taxpayers.

Since Interior Secretary Ken Salazar officially “lifted” the moratorium on offshore drilling on October 12, 2010, Gulf of Mexico offshore permitting and drilling continues to be delayed by unnecessary regulatory demands and uncertainty.  Not only are these delays making the United States more reliant on foreign sources of fuel, they are negatively impacting the economy by sending our jobs overseas, reducing federal revenue and discouraging domestic growth.   

The Gulf Economic Survival Team (GEST) recently commissioned IHS Global Insight (USA) Inc. and IHS CERA Inc. to analyze the impacts of the Gulf moratorium on a national scale.  The findings of the study are staggering.  The study found rapid “action to reduce the growing backlog of plans and increase the pace of plan and permit approvals to explore for oil and natural gas resources in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico would increase employment opportunities in almost every state, boost tax and royalty revenues for governments, and help stabilize US energy security. And these benefits could materialize rapidly.” 

House Republicans have already taken steps toward retaining and creating jobs by passing legislation including the Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act (H.R. 1229), which requires the Secretary of the Interior to decide whether to issue a permit within 30 days of receiving an application.  Should similar legislation become law, the GEST study suggests we could create 230,000 American jobs, contribute upwards of $12 billion in tax and royalty revenues to state and federal treasuries and reduce the amount the United States sends to foreign governments for imported oil by $15 billion dollars by 2012.

As part of an overall plan to create American jobs, I urge you to embrace our domestic resources in order to grow the domestic workforce, increase federal revenues and achieve the goal of energy independence.   

Sincerely,
Charles W. Boustany, Jr., MD
Member of Congress

Boustany is the leader in Congress for enhanced exploration and production of our domestic resources. He is a primary advocate for legislation to promote Gulf Coast energy production and to create a sound American energy policy. Last month, his efforts to start a dialogue between energy producers and government officials led to the first meeting of a “working group” including both Washington and Gulf Coast regulators and energy leaders.  This workshop addressed several long-standing concerns held by the industry, including Applications for Permit to Drill, subsea containment, the well screening tool and request for departures. 

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