Landry Calls On Obama To Drill Now Amid Egyptian Crisis
NEW IBERIA, LA – Amid the continuing unrest in Egypt and the speculation of a Suez Canal shutdown – causing the largest single day increase in the price of crude oil since 2009, Congressman Jeff Landry (Republican, LA-03) has called on the President to allow domestic oil and gas drillers to get back to work immediately in order to lower the price at the pump.
“How high will the Egyptian crisis push gas prices before the President abandons his merit-less permitorium and allows domestic drillers to go back to work? And how many Americans will have to lose their jobs before we find out?” posed Landry. “I don’t want to know. On Monday, I want to see Coastal Louisianans allowed back to work finding and recovering our domestic energy sources.”
“With the President’s permitorium on domestic offshore drilling causing America to become even more dependent on foreign oil, I once again call on the President to enact a robust domestic energy policy right away,” said Landry. "Every day we fail to utilize our own energy resources in the Gulf of Mexico and across America is a day our economy is held captive to clashes in Egypt, dictators in Venezuela, or terrorists in Western Africa."
“At any point in time, a conflict in the Middle East can erupt and hold our economy hostage because the President is fantasizing about an oil-free green energy policy,” Landry continued. “Allowing production to occur in the Gulf of Mexico again will help alleviate the economic crisis of a Suez Canal shutdown and prevent Americans from waiting in long lines to pay 5 dollars a gallon for gas.”
Egypt’s Suez Canal is critical to the world economy, serving as the gateway to international commercial shipping. In 2009, an estimated 1.8 million barrels of crude oil and refined petroleum products flowed through the Suez Canal each day, an amount roughly equal to the Gulf of Mexico's daily production that same year. Closure of the Suez Canal would send tankers around the southern tip of Africa – adding 6,000 miles to transit and driving up the price of oil.
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