PANAMA CITY BEACH — The double hit of high fuel prices and high unemployment should be addressed through expanded offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, Rep. Steve Southerland said Wednesday. During a press conference at an Exxon gas station near Panama City Beach, Southerland said it’s a “critically important issue facing not just Florida’s 2nd Congressional District … but also the nation at large.” Information he presented showed oil production in the Gulf was higher through 2010 than it was when President Barack Obama took office in 2008, but projections showed it is expected to decline through 2012. Southerland, R-Panama City, said high gas prices, which approached $4 per gallon before Memorial Day but have since eased, are felt along the Gulf Coast by residents who pay more for gas and businesses in the tourist industry that are affected when customers are unable to drive here to vacation. The freshman Congressman said this is due to a “de facto moratorium” on drilling in the Gulf that has occurred since the temporary moratorium blocking drilling after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was lifted in October, the result of the Obama administration not issuing permits. Southerland said it’s resulting in higher gas prices. There is disagreement, though, on how quickly — and to what extent — additional oil production in the Gulf of Mexico affects gas prices. A 2009 government study found that opening up waters closed to drilling off the East Coast, West Coast and Florida Gulf Coast would yield about 500,000 barrels a day by 2030. Southerland said drilling also sends a message to OPEC members that sometimes react with increased output. The organization on Wednesday announced output levels would remain at current levels. In May, Obama announced he was directing the Department of Interior to conduct annual lease sales in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and to speed up evaluation of oil and gas resources in the Atlantic Ocean. He also said there were plans to lease new areas in the Gulf of Mexico and that drilling leases in the Gulf would be extended if they were affected by the temporary moratorium. Southerland said he’s “not seeing an acceleration at all in deepwater permits,” and it matters what the federal government does, not what it says it will do. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that BHP Billiton announced it was the first company to begin producing oil from a new well in the Gulf since the moratorium was lifted. The company began drilling on a second well in the Gulf earlier this month. Jobs Southerland said it’s about more than gas prices; expanded drilling will lead to job creation. He said the Gulf Coast lost 12,000 jobs because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill last summer and said the moratorium on new drilling could cost 24,000 more. He acknowledged the need to reduce the demand for oil and for expanded alternative forms of energy, but he said the country needs an “all-of-the-above approach” and that there isn’t a way to eliminate the need for oil. “We need a comprehensive energy policy that taps into the natural resources we have in this country,” Southerland said. “This country, our country, is in the face of an economic crisis.” He encouraged residents to not just contact his office with their concerns but other members of Congress to let them know how they feel about offshore drilling in the Gulf. “Your phone calls, your letters into our offices are critical,” he said. An earlier version of this story appears below: PANAMA CITY BEACH — Rep. Steve Southerland said expansion of offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is needed to reduce fuel prices and the nation’s unemployment rate. During a press conference Wednesday at an Exxon gas station in Panama City Beach, Southerland said it’s a “critically important issue facing not just Florida’s 2nd Congressional District … but also the nation at large.” Information he presented shows oil production in the Gulf was higher through 2010 than it was when President Barack Obama took office in 2008, but projections show it is expected to decline through 2012. Southerland said high gas prices, which approached $4 per gallon before Memorial Day but have since dropped, are felt along the Gulf Coast by residents who pay more for gas and by businesses in the tourist industry that are effected when customers are unable to drive here to vacation. “This country, our country, is in the face of an economic crisis,” he said, and he believes an expansion of oil production in the Gulf will have the double effect of reducing fuel prices and creating jobs. He encouraged residents to not just contact his office with their concerns but other members of Congress to let them know how they feel about off shore drilling in the Gulf. “Your phone calls, your letters into our offices are critical,” he said.

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