Thursday, July 31, 2008

Letter to Congress Urges Gas Drilling Ban Be Allowed to Expire

Americans for the Preservation of Liberty has joined a coalition letter delivered to Congress today saying:
Dear Senator/Representative:

On behalf of our millions of members and all American consumers suffering from high energy prices, we urge you to
allow the current restrictions on much-needed American energy resources to expire as scheduled under current law.
Unless Congress acts affirmatively to prevent it, October 1st, 2008 will be a day fittingly described as “American
Energy Freedom Day” as those restrictions expire.

According to estimates from the Department of the Interior, the Outer Continental Shelf contains 86 billion barrels of
oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and there is an additional 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil locked in
oil shale in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.

Now that President Bush has lifted the executive branch moratorium, the only thing prohibiting development of these
energy resources is a temporary ban that is set to expire at the end of this fiscal year. On October 1, 2008, domestic
energy resources will no longer be held off-limits by the federal government.

We urge you to oppose the creation of any new moratorium for fiscal 2009, even if it is attached to what some people
in Washington consider “must-pass” legislation. We further urge you to sustain a presidential veto of any measure to
impose a new moratorium.

A strong majority of the American public sees drilling expansion as necessary to reduce fuel prices now and in the
long run. Creating new restrictions on domestic energy development would fly in the face of public opinion and
exacerbate the pain every American citizen feels at the pump.

Sincerely,

[List of Signers]

A PDF of the actual letter, including the complete list of signers, can be accessed here.
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