Dear Mr. Broyles:

 

Thank you for your recent email regarding offshore oil and gas drilling.  I appreciate you taking the time to contact me and I’m grateful for the opportunity to respond.

 

I, like most Americans, support offshore drilling when done under the right circumstances.  As an advocate of the federalist principles of states’ rights upon which our nation was founded, I believe strongly that states ought to have the authority to determine whether oil and gas drilling takes place off their coast, not the federal government as is currently the case.  In fact, one of the first bills I introduced in Congress would have given states that responsibility.  It is the citizens of North Carolina, not North Dakota or any other state, who are in the best position to decide whether drilling off North Carolina makes sense for North Carolinians.  I also believe that if North Carolinians decide that drilling off our coast is something that should be pursued, North Carolina ought to get the lion’s share of the royalty revenue generated by that drilling, not the federal government as is now the case.  After all, it is North Carolina that would bear the risk and expense of environmental damage stemming from an oil spill, and the state should be compensated accordingly.

 

I also believe that the unprecedented Gulf oil spill showed the need for comprehensive reform of America’s drilling standards and oversight.  No one wants to see that kind of devastation again, particularly those who live on or enjoy North Carolina’s Outer Banks.  That being said, I share the frustration of those concerned that the pace of the Obama Administration’s reforms in this regard has been too slow.

 

With that as background, as you may be aware the House of Representatives recently considered three bills dealing with offshore drilling: H.R. 1229, H.R. 1230 and H.R. 231.  I voted against each of these bills and I’d like to explain why.

 

H.R. 1229 would create a new system for approval of oil companies’ applications for permits to drill for oil and gas offshore.  A key feature of the bill was a requirement that if a company’s application was not approved in 60 days, it was deemed automatically approved.  While we all acknowledge that the federal government should not be slow walking drilling permits, I believe it is wrong, particularly after the Gulf oil spill, to require automatic approval of applications even if there are serious questions about whether the drilling plan presented by the oil company can be carried out in a safe, environmentally responsible.

 

H.R. 1230 would require the Administration to offer three Gulf of Mexico lease sales that were temporarily suspended after the Gulf oil spill.  This is being proposed even though the Interior Department has already announced plans to offer all of these lease sales later this year or early next year.  The bill would also deem the pre-Gulf oil spill environmental impact statements on these leases automatically approved.  To me, that just doesn’t make sense.  At the very least, the oil companies ought to be required to update their environmental impact statements to make sure they account for and mitigate the potential environmental damage that can result from a blowout.  Updating these statements need not take an extended period of time, but I believe it needs to be done.

 

H.R. 1231 would open up the Atlantic Ocean to offshore oil and gas drilling, including North Carolina.  However, it would not direct any of the royalty revenue from that drilling to North Carolina; that money would instead go to the federal government.  As I mentioned previously, I oppose this sort of top-down approach because I believe this decision ought to be made by North Carolinians, and the bulk of the revenue ought to go to North Carolina.

 

As you know, the topic of drilling for oil is inextricably linked to the price of gas that we all pay at the pump.  I strongly agree that drilling for more oil here in America would certainly be good for economy, and would be helpful in reducing gas prices.  That’s why it’s so frustrating that many oil companies are not drilling the leases on public land that they already own.  For example, according to an Interior Department report released on March 29, 2011, the Interior Department found that of the 38 million acres of public lands under lease, over 21 million acres (57%) are not in production or exploration.  Furthermore, of the 34 million acres already under lease offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, almost 24 million acres (70%) are inactive (i.e. neither producing or subject to approved or pending exploration or development plans).  I think we can all agree that these oil companies need to start producing on these lands, and if they don’t, they ought to step aside and let other companies step up to the plate.

 

Lastly, I have been very vocal about the role that Federal Reserve’s unprecedented $2 trillion money printing campaign has had in raising the price of oil and nearly every other commodity.  I have also been outspoken on the need for federal regulators to do their jobs and enforce existing statutes to reign in the excessive speculation and manipulation of the oil markets.  If you have a moment, I would encourage you to review recent statements that I have given on these topics, which can be found here:

 

http://jones.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=242385

 

http://jones.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=228376

 

http://jones.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=220286

 

Thanks again for taking the time to contact me about this issue.  If you have further questions about other federal matters, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

 
Sincerely,

Walter B. Jones
Member of Congress