Watch Upton’s speech on the House floor:
The Jobs and Energy Permitting Act, introduced by Reps. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Gene Green (D-TX), will stop the administration’s bureaucratic delays that have stalled important energy production opportunities offshore. The legislation would allow energy exploration to commence in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas, which are estimated to contain up to 28 billion barrels of oil.
“We know that if production is allowed here we could produce as much as a million barrels of oil a day from these sites and it would add about 54,000 American jobs," said Upton. “Yet, five years after the original lease sales, not a single test well has been drilled, not a single barrel of domestic oil has been brought to market to reduce our reliance on Middle East oil, and not a single job has been created to develop these resources because the bureaucracy is standing in the way of exploration. This legislation changes that. I would urge my colleagues to support this sensible bipartisan legislation to streamline the permitting process and finally allow us to explore and develop the vast resources of our nation."
