Washington, D.C. – Responding to the Obama administration’s proposed five-year plan for offshore energy development, Robbie Diamond, President and CEO of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), issued the following statement:

“Today’s proposal from the Department of Interior takes some important steps toward improving our nations’ energy security by increasing domestic energy production. SAFE has long advocated for the inclusion of additional promising areas of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in federal energy development plans in combination with improved safety standards. It is encouraging to see lease sales in the Atlantic OCS included.

“Much more could be done, however, to make offshore energy production part of a comprehensive U.S. energy security strategy. In particular, we continue to believe that development in additional frontier areas that remain closed, including expanded portions of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and Arctic OCS, should be leveraged to seed an Energy Security Trust Fund that makes critical investments in transportation technologies designed to sever America’s connection to the volatile global oil market.”

About Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE)
Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) is a nonpartisan organization that aims to reduce America’s dependence on oil and improve U.S. energy security to bolster national security and strengthen the economy. SAFE advocates for expanded domestic production of U.S. oil and gas resources, continued improvements in fuel efficiency, and in the long-term, breaking oil’s stranglehold on the transportation sector through alternatives like natural gas for heavy-duty trucks and plug-in electric vehicles. In 2006, SAFE joined with General P.X. Kelley (Ret.), 28th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, and Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President, and CEO of FedEx Corporation, to form the Energy Security Leadership Council (ESLC), a group of business and former military leaders committed to reducing U.S. oil dependence.

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