Environmental groups and some coastal state senators are ticked off by today’s announcement on offshore drilling. But so, predictably, are Republicans, who maintain that the Obama administration’s massive expansion of oil and gas drilling doesn’t go far enough.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) fired off a statement declaring that the Obama administration “continues to defy the will of the American people” by not letting oil companies drill everywhere immediately.
“It’s long past time for this Administration to stop delaying American energy production off all our shores and start listening to the American people who want an ‘all of the above’ strategy to produce more American energy and create more jobs … Republicans are listening to the American people and have proposed a better solution–the American Energy Act–which will lower gas prices, increase American energy production, promote new clean and renewable sources of energy, and encourage greater efficiency and conservation.
He also made sure to get in a pot-shot at the Obama administration’s plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, just for good measure:
At the same time the White House makes today’s announcement, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is plotting a new massive job-killer that the American people can’t afford: a cascade of new EPA regulations that will punish every American who dares to flip on a light switch, drive a car, or buy an American product. Americans simply don’t want this backdoor national energy tax that will drive up energy and manufacturing costs and destroy jobs in our states and local communities.
Clearly, these overtures to Republicans on energy are finding resounding success.
