PRESS RELEASE: Ban on Off Shore Drilling

Midge Potts for Senate 2010

www.electmidge.com

Contact: Midge Potts

midge@electmidge.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 28th, 2010

Senate Candidate Potts Suggests Ban on Off Shore Drilling

Progressive Party Co-Chair Pushes Renewable Energy

Springfield, MO - Midge Potts, Progressive/Green candidate for US Senate in Missouri announced on Wednesday that if elected she would introduce legislation to repeal sections of the recent energy bill that allow increased drilling off of the coast of Virginia. In her statement, she lambasted President Obama for his part in promoting the new policy.

"President Obama should be ashamed of himself for pushing a policy that moves America backward in our quest for energy independence. Instead of calling for more off shore drilling, he should be demanding a moratorium" said Potts, who has previously been critical of the President's energy policy in regard to nuclear energy. "It is sickly ironic that tens of thousands of gallons of oil are now leaking from a drilling platform into the Gulf of Mexico. Increased drilling would put America's offshore ecosystems at risk, and would further threaten to decimate the industries that depend on those ecosystems to remain vital. I believe we need to divert the tens of billions in tax payer money that goes to subsidize oil exploration into programs for researching transportation solutions based on renewable energy sources." Potts added, "If we were to allow American family farmers to grow hemp, and subsidize efforts to build engines that run on hemp oil, we could start to make the necessary transition necessary to become truly energy independent in the 21st century."

Midge Potts, co-chair of the Progressive Party of Missouri, is the party's candidate for U.S. Senator in 2010. She and other party members are circulating petitions to get Ms. Potts and other Progressive Party candidates on the Missouri ballot this year.

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