Legislator wants faster oil, gas permits

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said the White House is "playing fast and loose" with drilling permit pledges.

U.S. President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address Tuesday pledged to cut the red tape on oil and natural gas drilling permits.

Obama has faced pressure from Republican critics, who say he's putting up road blocks to domestic energy development.

Hastings said it may take more than 100 days for the administration to issue Applications for Permits to Drill, which he says is 30 percent longer than the previous administration.

"The Obama administration is playing fast and loose with the facts by obfuscating the difference between the lengths of time it takes Bureau of Land Management to complete an APD with the total time an APD takes to be approved," Hastings said.

New technologies used to extract oil and natural gas from shale formations have put the United States in a reserve leadership position. In its report for February, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said U.S. oil production is at its highest level since 1987.

The American Petroleum Institute welcomed Obama's pledge but called on him to open up more federal land to oil and gas development.