HOMEPAGE > NEWSROOM

Press Release

For Immediate Release
June 18, 2008
Contact: Sean C. Bonyun
(202) 225-3761

Upton Hails President’s Call for American-Made Energy
Upton echoes President’s calls for increased domestic exploration in Outer Continental Shelf and Western oil shale

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph), top Republican on the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee, applauded the President’s call today for Congress to lift the ban on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf and pursue additional measures to boost domestic oil production.  The United States currently imports 70 percent of the nation’s oil and is estimated to import as much as 88 percent of our petroleum needs by 2012, and our nation’s overall energy needs are expected to increase nearly 50 percent by 2030.  While global oil production fell by 126,000 barrels a day in 2007, consumption grew by a million barrels a day.  India and China’s energy consumption continues to grow by more than 10 percent a year, and that consumption will continue to sharply escalate as one third of the world’s population enters the industrial age.

“Energy prices drive our economy – and we owe it to Michigan’s working families who are struggling to make ends meet to pursue long-term solutions to address our energy needs – if we fail to act, we will all be longing for the ‘good old days’ of $4 gas,” said Upton.  “By voting to expand domestic exploration, Congress will send an immediate message to the world oil market that we are serious about increasing our domestic supply.  Let’s unlock our resources, and chart our nation on a course toward energy independence, fortifying our nation’s energy supply for generations to come.” 

Three specific regions with vast resources that are currently off limits to exploration include: 

“Last year, by just six votes, House Democrats were successful in locking away oil shale reserves in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming that some studies estimate could be as high as 2.1 trillion barrels – well above the capacity of Saudi, Iranian, Russian and Venezuelan oil reserves combined,” said Upton.  “It defies logic that China has been given license to drill off the Florida Keys in Cuban waters, yet our own resources are locked away.  We have the capability and technology to responsibly pursue American-made energy – through domestic exploration, the advancement of renewable sources of energy like wind and solar, the promotion of emissions-free nuclear power and increased conservation through new technologies – and our nation will be better for it.”

On June 27, 2007, during consideration of the Interior Department spending bill, the U.S. House adopted an amendment offered by Colorado Democrat Rep. Mark Udall by a vote of 216 to 210 that blocked commercial exploration for oil shale resources on public lands.  (Roll Call vote 577).  Upton is working with his House colleagues to reverse that vote and permit the responsible exploration of our vast resources out West.

###