Pelosi Statement on President Bush Lifting the Executive Ban on Offshore Drilling

Contact:Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on President Bush's announcement lifting the executive ban on drilling in protected coastal areas:

"Once again, the oilman in the White House is echoing the demands of Big Oil.

"The Bush plan is a hoax. It will neither reduce gas prices nor increase energy independence. It just gives millions more acres to the same companies that are sitting on nearly 68 million acres of public lands and coastal areas.

"If the President wants to bring down prices in the next two weeks, not the next two decades, he should free our oil by releasing a small portion of the more than 700 million barrels of oil we have put in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

"It's time to tell the oil industry: 'You already have millions of acres to drill. Use it or lose it.'"