House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings released the following statement regarding President Obama’s address to the nation on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill:

“There is an on-going crisis in the Gulf and the priorities of the Administration should be simple: stop the leak and cleanup the oil. Such a devastating crisis shouldn’t be used as leverage to push a cap-and-trade national energy tax that will send energy prices through the roof and send American jobs overseas. This spill is causing a terrible economic toll and the government shouldn’t make the problem worse by imposing job-killing policies that will not only be felt in the Gulf but throughout the entire country.

“The focus needs to be on the leak, the cleanup, holding BP 100% accountable, and getting to the bottom of what happened so that educated reforms can then be made to government rules overseeing offshore drilling. Our environment, national security and American jobs depend on ensuring American drilling is the safest in the world.”

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