House Votes to Increase U.S. Energy Supply

Yesterday the House voted 232-187 to end a federal moratorium on offshore energy production and give states the opportunity to allow oil and natural gas operations off of their coastlines. It is estimated that offshore areas contain 86billion barrels of oil and 420trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the coastal seabed. When asked by the Houston Chronicle on June 27 about the bill Representative Peterson of Pennsylvania said

I’ve come to believe the greatest resource we have has been locked up in the Outer Continental Shelf. We’re the only country in the world that does that. I grew up around the oil patch. I understand that energy is the mother’s milk of industry in this country.

We as a country — for the last three years — have had the highest natural gas prices in the world. We’re putting every industry that uses large amounts of natural gas at a competitive disadvantage. If we don’t get more affordable prices, manufacturers will be producing their products somewhere else and sending them here by boat.