Obama Contradicted by His Own Administration on Gulf Oil Production

Press Release

Congressman John Fleming, M.D. released the following statement today after a House Natural Resources Committee hearing where he questioned Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Director Michael R. Bromwich on repeated claims by the Obama administration that oil production is up in the Gulf of Mexico.

Today, the Obama administration admitted to misleading the American taxpayer on oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. Congressman Fleming questioned BOEMRE Director Bromwich on oil production in the Gulf and Director Bromwich said, "Right now, [oil production] has not gone down and it's at its highest levels ever."

After seeing the facts from the Energy Information Administration, Fleming asked, "What's your data?" to which Director Bromwich responded "What I was telling you was based on my understanding of the fact that of what the level of production was. If I was in error I inadvertently made an error. I know that the projections for the second half of 2011 are supposed to go down. My understanding, again perhaps incorrect, was that we were now at the highest levels we've been. If you're telling me the highest levels based on data you have, I don't have data in front of me, was reached in 2010, I'm not going to reject that."

Director Bromwich's admission that oil production is down in the Gulf finally sets the record straight from past statements of the Obama administration. On March 11, 2011 President Obama said "oil production from Federal waters in the Gulf reached an all time high." On March 3, when Congressman Fleming pressed Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on oil production in the Gulf, Secretary Salazar said "production has remained at an all time high."

Congressman Fleming added, "Today, the Obama administration finally admitted to the American people that oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is actually DOWN as a result of President Obama's disastrous energy policy that is driven by liberal ideology rather than the facts."

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