As the House and Senate prepare to debate legislation related to the oil spill, the U.S. Chamber in a letter to Congress today urged Members to consider the long-term ramifications of various bills on U.S. energy security and the economic well being of communities. Congress should reject legislation—particularly hastily prepared legislation—that would keep American energy resources offline and thus drive energy producers overseas, along with their infrastructure and expertise, and hundreds of thousands of well-paying U.S. jobs.

As Bruce Josten states in the letter:

• Congress should resist the rush to act on legislation in the midst of the ongoing catastrophe in the Gulf; priority number one must remain permanently sealing the well and mitigating the extensive environmental damage. The Chamber believes that an independent commission, similar to the one included in legislation reported by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, would inform the legislative process by providing important data, technical analysis, and expertise, in addition to the Obama Administration’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. 

• Many of the legislative proposals under consideration could have serious consequences, such as increased dependence on foreign oil at higher costs in the short- and long-term, growing energy security risks, and a less competitive and potentially crippled Gulf coast economy.

• Congress should not exploit the tragedy in the Gulf as rationale to levy excessive new energy taxes on American consumers and producers.  The nascent economic recovery cannot afford additional extreme taxes on domestically produced commodities that the entire United States depends on every day. 

Full letter in PDF Format

We invite all of you to get a discussion going.  Please submit your comments at the end of this article, Thanks.