Rep. Jon Runyan (R-N.J.) voted for three bills which will spur investment in the Gulf of Mexico and put Americans back to work, while reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The bills, which were introduced by Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), are intended to reverse the Obama Administration’s various moratoriums on offshore leasing and oil exploration.  

The legislation Rep. Runyan supported cannot be ratified soon enough:

• There will be no offshore lease sales this year—the last time this happened was 1958.
• According to the Administration moratorium on deepwater drilling has caused the loss of nearly 12,000 jobs—the number is surely higher
• The Department of Interior’s de-facto moratorium on shallow water drilling will eliminate an additional 36,000 jobs over the next 18 months

Specifically, Rep. Runyan voted for:

• The Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act, which requires the Administration to proceed with the 2012-2017 lease plan for offshore drilling.
• The Putting the Gulf Back to Work Act, which reverses President Obama’s de-facto moratorium on drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico.
• The Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act, which resurrects prematurely canceled or delayed offshore lease sales in on the coast of Virginia and in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Congressman Runyan should be congratulated for standing up for American businesses and their workers,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. “It is unfortunate that many of his peers on Capitol Hill don’t share this conviction, preferring to hamstring our economy and keep thousands of jobs unnecessarily pending. With gas prices skyrocketing and unemployment persistently high, Rep. Runyan acutely voted to remedy these problems”

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