Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Courtney Costello- Talk Radio News Service

One year after President Bush signed an executive order lifting the federal ban on drilling along the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)," congressional leaders gathered in Washington to shed light on the Obama administration's failure to make offshore drilling a priority.

“In the last 29 years, nothing has been done to upgrade our knowledge about gas and oil reserves [off American shores],” said former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

Funding OCS offshore drilling will help create 1.2 million jobs for Americans, and create a pay roll close to 70 billion dollars, if these resources are used right away, said Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wa.).

The Congressional leaders all stressed that the U.S. has to limit its dependency on foreign oil.

“The idea that we are sending dollars abroad, taking jobs away from our Americans, bleeding our economy to buy oil from overseas is wrong, when we have vast quantities available...I’ve suggested, let’s have a transition, with fossil fuels developed in this country. Develop them for domestic use and transfer those dollars into developing alternative forms of energy,” said Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska).