Let Gulf Coast Economy Get Back to Work

NEWS RELEASE from Freedom Action

Don’t Punish Local Workers for BP’s Mistakes

Washington, D.C.—Freedom Action calls on President Obama to immediately lift the damaging, counterproductive ban on offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The six-month ban, which has closed down dozens of safe, productive operations, is doing nothing to help clean up the spill created by BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster – but is keeping thousands of oil and gas workers from making a living and having a far larger economic impact throughout the region.

“In a knee-jerk move with perverse consequences, the President’s total ban on drilling in the Gulf has created further hardship for communities already reeling from the impact of the BP spill,” said Myron Ebell, Director of Freedom Action. “Now in addition to the tourism and fishing sectors – which together account for about 5% of Louisiana’s economy – the oil and gas sector – which accounts for 16% – is also being knocked down at exactly a time when its high-paying jobs could be helping to support families in the region.”

Louisiana’s Gov. Bobby Jindal and Sen. Mary Landrieu have already spoken out strongly against the White House’s blanket ban, urging the President to allow offshore platforms to re-open and begin providing energy again to the American people. Sen. Landrieu has even proposed a list of several possible alternatives to the ban, including increased safety inspections, while at the same time pointing out that continuing with the current policy could cost as many as 38,000 jobs.

“The empathy and concern from around the country for the affected residents of the Gulf Coast has been tremendous, and it is understandable that Americans would want to see a policy that protects the area from further harm,” said Ebell. “But keeping locals from making a living and sabotaging their economic recovery so that a handful of environmentalists and Washington politicians can congratulate each other on their concern for wildlife is an arrogant and immoral policy. President Obama needs to remove the drilling ban now.”

View Freedom Action’s grassroots Action Alert here.

Contacts:

Julie Walsh, 202-331-2777

Myron Ebell, 202-331-2256

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Freedom Action is a web-based grassroots activist group dedicated to more freedom and less government.

Tagged: Al, FreedomAction.org, Louisiana, offshore drilling

Posted in: 111th Congress, Barry Soetoro (aka Barack Hussein Obama) Extreme Left, Conniving-Lying-Sneaky Politicians, Demagogues, Leftists (In the USA aka as Liberals-Progressives), Politicians for the Destruction of America, Socialists-Fascists-Marxists-Communists