House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after a new Rasmussen poll shows 72 percent of Americans support offshore drilling.

“With a new poll showing 72 percent support for offshore drilling, it’s clear that President Obama's new plan to lockup the vast majority of the Outer Continental Shelf from future energy production is just plain out of touch with the American people. The Administration's anti-offshore drilling policy established on Wednesday puts 18 billion barrels of oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas under lock and key that this economy desperately needs. It’s obvious the vast majority of Americans understand the direct correlation between new energy production in our OCS and the creation of jobs, lower energy prices and a lessening of dependence on foreign sources of energy—it's time that the President and his Administration make that connection. America needs an all-of-the-above energy plan, like House Republicans' American Energy Act, that focuses on new offshore drilling, new nuclear power and promotes new renewable energy like solar, wind and biomass.”

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