KWES NewsWest 9 / Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, TX: newswest9.com | Congressman Mike Conaway Speaks Out Over America’s Energy Woes

Congressman Mike Conaway Speaks Out Over America’s Energy Woes

Staff Report
NewsWest 9

A stalemate in Washington over America's energy woes has 11th District Congressman Mike Conaway fuming mad.

Democratic house leaders left Friday for a long vacation, but many Republicans stayed behind to protest Democrats leaving town without a decision on America's energy woes.

Conaway says he's upset at their unwillingness to even negotiate or call a vote on offshore drilling measures.

"It's disappointing in the extreme.  80% of America is telling Congress to do something including drill the outer continental shelf or life the moratorium.  It's not being able to get a vote on the floor, it's very frustrating.  The Speaker gets a vote, I get a vote.  If her votes outnumber ours, fine, but why not vote on the House Floor as to whether or not to explore American resources or Crude Oil-Natural Gas that are contained in the outer continental shelf, the deep water that we all know is there," Representative Mike Conaway, said.

Democrats say big oil companies have current offshore leases they aren't utilizing and they oppose new offshore drilling.

Conaway says they don't understand those oil companies must have future drilling prospects to eliminate our dependency on foreign oil.