Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, released the following statement regarding President Bush’s plan to repeal the Executive OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Moratorium:

This is a disappointing, but not particularly surprising, announcement. President Bush has been pushing a failed energy strategy, focused primarily on increasing domestic drilling, for 7½ years and America is suffering from the results. This is just more of the same.

The oil and gas industry already has access to 68 million acres of public land, both offshore and onshore, where it is not drilling. It also already has access to nearly 80 percent of the oil and gas resources off America’s shores. There is simply no reason to open more offshore areas to the threat of new drilling. We simply cannot drill our way to energy independence and no amount of wishing for something different will change that reality.

Even the Bush administration’s Energy Department says the effects on prices from such drilling would be ‘insignificant.’

This proposal looks like another Bush administration gift to a much-favored special interest, in this case big oil and gas companies that are gouging U.S. consumers already. Congress can and should reject this bad idea.