Anne Barth Press Release

STATEMENT FROM ANNE BARTH
DEOMCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL NOMINEE (WV-02)
RE: NEED FOR DOMESTIC DRILLING TO RELIEVE GAS PRICES

Charleston, W.Va. –

I favor exploring options for new drilling and opening the strategic reserve. I have always said exploring more areas in the continental shelf should be on the table, but currently only 19 percent of the 41 million acres we already have leased there are in production.* Our immediate priority should be drilling the permits we already have.

We have thousands of existing leases on the outer shelf waiting to be drilled. The problem is not that we aren’t leasing enough. The issue is that we’re not drilling enough.

The problem of high gas prices is too urgent and too important to politicize just so we can have a summer-long partisan battle before the election. West Virginians don’t care about political theater, they simply expect Congress do something about outrageous gas prices now.

H. R. 6251, the “use it or lose it” bill, would jumpstart more production the day it is ratified by Congress and signed by the president. What are we waiting for? Why was this common sense legislation blocked?

Despite Rep. Capito’s false claims that the “use it or lose it” bill is already law, there is nothing in the leases that requires companies to drill. The Secretary of Interior could negate the leases, but he has not and he will not under this administration, so without H.R. 6251 the threat is toothless.

We are sitting on 68 million acres of leased federal lands inside the U.S. that are already permitted but not being drilled. We could force the oil industry’s hand by telling them to use it or lose it. It’s a common sense approach that has worked in the coal industry for 30 years, and would have immediate results.

Ignoring the hardships that high gas prices are causing for West Virginia families, the president continues to cling to the failed polices of showering the oil industry with tax breaks and subsidies while they are raking in record profits.

For over seven years now America’s national energy policy has been to give big oil whatever it wants, which helped bring us to this crisis at the pumps. The resulting high gas prices are not merely an inconvenience, they are a hardship.

Because of high gas prices, workers in rural West Virginia are now being forced to make decisions about leaving their homes and families to move closer to their jobs because they can’t afford to commute at $4.15 a gallon. Some are simply giving up better-paying jobs for lesser paying jobs closer to home, while others are close to being forced out of work altogether. They can’t afford to wait – they demand something be done about gas prices now.

To my mind, this should not be the partisan problem some are trying to make it out to be. High gas prices are an American problem, and will require a bi-partisan solution.

I believe oil and gas companies should be busy drilling on land we have already given them – both onshore and offshore – and that any oil found on those sites needs to stay in the United States.

I also support fast-tracking investments in renewable energy sources, cracking down on excessive speculation, rolling back huge tax breaks for oil companies, and setting up a cap-and-trade system that would provide billions of dollars for alternative energy development including significant investments in developing and deploying low carbon coal technologies. West Virginia can play an even greater role in helping America meets its energy needs.

* Just 19 Percent of Outer Continental Shelf acres under lease are producing. There are over 41,000,000 acres leased there, yet only 8,123,000 acres are actually in production. [Dept. of Interior]