House Approves Arctic, Offshore Drilling Disguised as Transportation Legislation

WASHINGTON (February 17, 2012) --  The following is a statement from Scott Slesinger, legislative director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, on the House approval of  H.R. 3084,  the “oil above all” component of the House Transportation package:

“This radical bill will mandate oil leasing along every bit of both U.S. coasts, in the American West, and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  It will only serve to feed America’s addiction to oil. 

“Under the rule the House passed today, this bill is on a path to be combined with the rest of the awful transportation bill as part of the ‘drill and drive’ strategy.  House Republican leadership ought to give up this counter-productive, ideological strategy and join the Senate in trying to pass a bipartisan bill that could result in real transportation improvements and real jobs.”

Read more in Government Affairs Director David Goldston’s blog: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dgoldston/rule_or_ruse_transportation_bi.html