Contact Your Government About American Energy Production

Skyrocketing energy prices illustrate the need to increase offshore oil and natural gas production on America's outer continental shelf (OCS). Even though crude oil is over $100 a barrel, the United States remains the only developed nation in the world to restrict access to its offshore energy resources. In fact, only 3 percent of all offshore acreage has been leased for energy production. This has to change.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service (or MMS, the federal agency in charge of oil and natural gas leasing) is currently soliciting public comments about whether to expand exploration and production of America's offshore energy resources. Let your voice be heard. Now's the time to let the federal government know we need greater access to America's energy resources. Comments are due no later than September 18, 2008.

Tell me more

Subject:

Dear Minerals Management Service

(Edit Letter Below)

I am writing in response to MMS's request for comment on the preparation of a 5-year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas leasing program. MMS should be applauded for recognizing our energy situation and proactively soliciting comments on a new program.  MMS should begin a new program in mid-2010, instead of waiting until the current plan expires in mid-2012. We need greater access to and production of domestic energy sources as soon as possible.

The OCS will play a critical role in America's energy future. With the geo-political challenges around the world, it is important to have more stable sources of energy in the United States. MMS estimates about 18 billion barrels of oil and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to be technically recoverable in the areas currently off limits on the OCS.  These estimates are likely to be very conservative. It is time to use today's technology to examine and produce our resources.

To give America greater diversity of domestic energy sources, it is imperative that we utilize more of the OCS. The concentration of oil and gas production in the western and central Gulf of Mexico is too vulnerable to weather-related disruptions. Greater access to offshore Alaska, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the west and east coasts will help provide the needed diversity and it would make our energy infrastructure more robust.

Some have expressed concern that increased activity on the OCS will lead to environmental impacts.  As demonstrated by America's oil and gas industries, advanced technologies have enabled the safe production of large amounts of offshore energy in America. The lack of environmental problems in the wake of powerful storms like Hurricanes Rita, Katrina, and Gustav demonstrate that the industry can operate in challenging conditions and maintain high environmental standards. Any new production on the OCS will utilize the best environmental control technologies available and produce oil and gas even cleaner than in the past.

The new 5-year plan should include areas covered by the current Congressional Moratoria. If Congress responds to the will of the American people and lifts the ban, we need to be able to move quickly to assess these additional areas with 21st century technology and start producing additional resources as quickly as possible.

The proper role of the OCS oil and gas leasing program should be to give Americans access to as much of the OCS as possible. We are the only developed nation in the world that restricts access to its energy resources on such a grand scale.  Because taxpayers own the federal lands of the OCS, as well as the energy resources that lie beneath them, it is time to end these prohibitions and give American consumers and our economy more of the domestic energy resources they need.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

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Contact Your Government About American Energy Production