Washington, DC- Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) today issued the following statement in response to a new study released by Southern Methodist University that confirms the Obama Administration has done little to cut down the red tape hampering offshore energy production in the Gulf of Mexico:

“Even now - two years after the Deepwater Horizon accident - job creators are struggling to comply with increasingly complex and overly burdensome regulations.  This study backs up what we have been saying all along. Rather than streamlining the system, the rules only continue to proliferate.  Instead of admitting their shortcomings, the Administration has attempted to deceive the American people into believing offshore activity in the Gulf of Mexico is back on track.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.

"President Obama has been quick to take credit for the uptick in offshore permitting activity. However, in the six month period following the lifting of the moratorium, almost 90 percent of deepwater exploration plan approvals and more than 80 percent of the deepwater development plan approvals were re-approvals of previously approved plans.  

“The Gulf of Mexico contains one of the world’s largest oil and natural gas deposits.  It's critical to our national security that we develop these resources in an efficient and transparent way. The Obama Administration is failing to carry out this important responsibility.”

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