Tennessee Lawmaker Calls for Increased Offshore Development

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) has signed a letter sent to U.S. Department of the Interior secretary Sally Jewell and co-signed by 21 Republican senators requesting that the department make all offshore oil and gas resources in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) available for oil and gas exploration and development. The letter, led by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), requests that all offshore resources be in Interior’s five-year program.

“By expanding energy research and development to all areas in the Outer Continental Shelf, we will be able to make more of our own energy resources available to power our economy,” Alexander said. “There is no reason we shouldn’t be using all the resources we have available to increase our energy security, create more jobs at home, and reduce our reliance on oil from countries that want to do us harm.”

The letter notes, “There is no issue more important to our nation than energy security. With our allies under threat, our friends under attack, and our enemies on the move, continued exploration and production of energy from federal lands in the United States is absolutely vital. Our offshore resources, which the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953 declares ‘should be made available for expeditious and orderly development,’ are critical to this effort.”

The senators urged that as the Interior Department proceeds with its five-year plan for 2017-2022, it reconsider the Obama administration’s “disappointing decision not to include lease sales in the Atlantic region in the current program, contrary to the original vision for OCS development during this time period.” They added that “we must not return to the constrained vision of the past wherein America’s resources remain untapped just off our coastline.”