Panel serves President’s goals; hamstrings viable industry in slow economy

Washington, D.C. – Dan Kish, Senior Vice President at the Institute for Energy Research, released the following statement in response to findings released by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill & Offshore Drilling:

“This commission has had problems from the beginning – it has seemed to prioritize creating political cover for the Obama Administration over working towards becoming a fact-finding body. That’s because it’s full of politicians, activists and opponents of offshore drilling. The public needs to know that the Macondo spill was an isolated incident that tragically differed from the oil and gas industry’s history in the Gulf: 60 successful years that generated 50,000 successful wells.

“The spill commission marks a huge missed opportunity for this nation. They did not tell us went wrong; opting instead for vague “systemic problems” that ignore decades of success. Rather than truly finding out the causes of the Gulf Coast oil spill, the commission wasted time giving us their opinions on overall energy policy and examining Alaskan issues 1000’s of miles from the Gulf. Their recommendations seem to further the Obama Administration’s approach to oil and gas exploration: do less of it with American workers and import more from foreign countries. We could be creating thousands and thousands of high-paying, permanent jobs, while improving our economy, and providing the affordable, reliable energy that fuels our nation. But the government hasn’t allowed it, even as every other country in the world steps up their energy exploration.

“It is unfortunate the president did not agree to the congressional offer to establish a bipartisan panel of experts to approach the study in the American way: Find out what happened, fix the problem, and get on with making America great. This is a truly missed opportunity.”

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