Republicans Tout "China Drilling Off Cuba" Urban Myth to Hide Their Failures on National Energy Policy; Their Desire to Emulate Phony Communist Policy is Absurd

(Washington, DC)  —  Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz slammed the minority leadership and their promulgation of known false information stating that China is drilling off of Cuban waters, just 60 miles from Florida. These claims have come from the minority’s leadership, as well as the Vice-President, despite a report from the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, experts at the University of Miami, and widespread media reports that show that China is not drilling in Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico waters.

“This is nothing more than Republican scare tactics,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20). “They have no-energy policy other than to push for more drilling and veto alternative energy projects.”

The CRS report states that “while there has been some concern about China’s potential involvement in offshore deepwater oil projects, to date its involvement in Cuba’s oil sector has been focused on onshore oil extraction in Pinar del Rio province [in Cuba] through its state-run China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation.”

“What is even more absurd is the idea that anyone would want to emulate the environmental policies of either Cuba, or China,” said Rep. Wasserman Schultz. “Floridians know that our beaches, our environment and our economy go hand in hand. We will not threaten our beaches with oil drilling just miles off-shore of our resorts, homes, and cruise ports.”