Dear President Obama and Congress:

Put the Gulf back to work today. Last year’s temporary moratorium on deepwater drilling and continued slowed permitting have forced nearly 20,000 Americans across the nation out of work – from rig workers and tugboat operators to truckers and farmers, and thousands in between. Moreover, stalled development of our critical energy resources threatens another 380,000 jobs nationally and has driven up gasoline and diesel prices as the Gulf of Mexico moratorium and permit freeze force consumers to rely increasingly on overseas oil.

If Washington wants to restore our economy, it needs to start in America’s own backyard. Open the Gulf.