WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) today issued the following statement regarding Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s announcement to suspend deepwater drilling:

“The administration’s decision to halt deepwater drilling is yet another blow to the Gulf Coast. Secretary Salazar’s new suspension is an attempt to sidestep the court’s decision, which ended the previous moratorium. The time this administration has wasted battling legal findings would have been better spent protecting our coast and preventing oil from reaching our shores.

“There is no doubt that the federal government needs to review thoroughly the Deepwater Horizon explosion so we can prevent a disaster like this from happening in the future, but this should not be done at the expense of the Gulf Coast economy. Now is the time to foster economic development in the Gulf rather than stifle it with more bureaucratic red tape. The oil spill threatens the jobs and livelihoods of Mississippians. The administration should not add to this threat with policies that send American jobs overseas.

“Although Secretary Salazar excluded shallow water drilling activities from the suspension, I remain concerned with the many delays in processing these leases since the shallow water drilling moratorium was lifted in May. Nearly two months later the administration continues to drag its feet on permitting safe shallow water drilling. It is my hope that the Interior Department will address these issues so Mississippians can move forward with shallow water drilling.”

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