During a Full Committee markup of the CLEAR Act (HR, 3534), Rep. Cynthia Lummis (WY) offered an amendment to strike all items in the bill related to onshore oil and gas development (Title II, Subtitle B).  Democrats defeated this amendment in a 20 to 28 vote.  Click here to view the roll call.

House Democrats are attempting to use the tragedy of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to pass unrelated items that have absolutely nothing to do with offshore drilling or the tragic oil spill in the Gulf. 

“Congress should be focusing on how to help the Gulf Coast and improve the safety of our offshore oil and gas development.  Unfortunately, this section on onshore energy development is the manifestation of Rahm Emanuel’s comment that you should never let a crisis go to waste,” said Rep. Lummis.  “None of the 31 pages in this section have anything to do with offshore drilling, the oil spill, or its clean-up.  Instead, it is 31 pages of hastily thrown together provisions that are job-killers for Western States.”

In addition to being completely unrelated to the disaster in the Gulf, the Western Energy Alliance, a coalition of onshore oil and gas producers said the onshore provisions in H.R. 3534 will “make leasing more expensive, increase uncertainty, increase centralized Government control over market mechanisms, and create a new, redundant layer of bureaucracy.” 

While the Obama Administration shuts down deepwater drilling, this is exactly the wrong time for Congress to be simultaneously slowing down onshore energy production.

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