Bart all for offshore drilling

NEWS RELEASE

CONGRESSMAN BART STUPAK 1ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

************************* Stupak votes for Democratic bill to expand domestic drilling

Release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve could lower gas prices by 25 cents

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives late Tuesday night passed comprehensive energy legislation that expands domestic oil and gas drilling, makes significant investments in renewable sources of energy and releases oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) voted in support of H.R. 6899, the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act, which passed the House 236-189, despite a surprising lack of support from Republicans who have been calling for a vote to expand domestic oil and gas drilling.

“The Democratic energy bill opens at least 319 million acres on the Outer Continental Shelf and 22.6 million acres in Alaska to drilling,” Stupak said. “It invests in the wind, solar and biomass technologies we need to reduce our dependence on volatile global oil supplies. It also ends the billions in taxpayer subsidies to the world’s largest oil companies when they are making record profits. I was proud to stand up for a plan for change that will help end - not prolong - our addiction to oil.”

To end American dependence on foreign oil, the bill invests in alternative energy sources, such as the wind and biomass technologies being used in northern Michigan.

It gives states the option of opening additional offshore areas for oil and gas drilling and releases oil from government stockpiles.

The bill also rolls back tax breaks for Big Oil when oil companies enjoy record profits and requires oil companies to pay drilling royalties.

A federal ban on oil and gas drilling in and under the Great Lakes would remain in place.

“This bill is another step toward a long-term goal of ending our dependence on foreign oil,” Stupak said. “I and other Democrats continue to put forth proposals to rein in the Wall Street speculators driving up energy prices, make price gouging a federal crime and release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This legislation releases oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which could immediately lower gas prices by approximately 25 cents per gallon.”

Stupak, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and chairman of its Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, is a leading voice in Congress on energy policy.

He continues to work on legislation to make price gouging a federal crime, rein in excessive energy speculation and expand renewable energy incentives to include ethanol produced from timber.

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