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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 14, 2011
Contact: Maggie Kao, 919-360-0308
Has Big Oil Amnesia Spread to the White House?
Washington, D.C. – Today in his weekend radio and online address, President Obama discussed the nation’s growing concerns over high gas prices.
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune issued the following statement:
“On Tuesday, Department of the Interior Secretary Salazar said that unlike House leadership, he and the president have not forgotten the lessons learned from last year's BP oil disaster.
‘I don’t have amnesia, and neither does the president,’ Salazar told reporters at the Interior Department. ‘And much of the legislation that I have seen being bandied around, especially with the House Republicans, is almost as if the Deepwater Horizon Macondo well incident never happened.’
“Today’s announcement on oil drilling from the President leads us to fear that Big Oil Amnesia might be contagious. Drilling will do nothing to ease Americans’ pain at the gas pump, and the President missed an opportunity in his address to shed light on the root of the problem - Big Oil’s stranglehold on our economy.
“America’s leaders need to act immediately to break our nation’s dangerous addiction to oil - not by drilling more and opening us up for a repeat of the BP oil disaster - but by ending the billions in tax breaks that the industry enjoys, and by promoting smart transportation choices, more fuel efficient vehicles and real solutions to move us Beyond Oil.”
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May 14, 2011
Contact: Maggie Kao, 919-360-0308
Has Big Oil Amnesia Spread to the White House?
Washington, D.C. – Today in his weekend radio and online address, President Obama discussed the nation’s growing concerns over high gas prices.
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune issued the following statement:
“On Tuesday, Department of the Interior Secretary Salazar said that unlike House leadership, he and the president have not forgotten the lessons learned from last year's BP oil disaster.
‘I don’t have amnesia, and neither does the president,’ Salazar told reporters at the Interior Department. ‘And much of the legislation that I have seen being bandied around, especially with the House Republicans, is almost as if the Deepwater Horizon Macondo well incident never happened.’
“Today’s announcement on oil drilling from the President leads us to fear that Big Oil Amnesia might be contagious. Drilling will do nothing to ease Americans’ pain at the gas pump, and the President missed an opportunity in his address to shed light on the root of the problem - Big Oil’s stranglehold on our economy.
“America’s leaders need to act immediately to break our nation’s dangerous addiction to oil - not by drilling more and opening us up for a repeat of the BP oil disaster - but by ending the billions in tax breaks that the industry enjoys, and by promoting smart transportation choices, more fuel efficient vehicles and real solutions to move us Beyond Oil.”
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