Strategic Production Response Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to H.R. 21.

The Republican bill would cause higher gas prices. It would hamstring the ability of the President to respond to a crisis. It also would open up areas to drilling and pollution that should be off-limits, and it would exacerbate climate pollution and the costly related impacts ripping through America.

After Putin invaded Ukraine and American consumers were grappling with higher gas prices, President Biden was right to release oil from the strategic reserve to cushion the economic blow to American families. It was a commonsense strategy that helped lower gas prices for Americans. Now, Republicans want to tie the hands of the President to act when necessary.

There are too many contingencies in the world--war, supply chain issues, natural disasters--to irrationally tie the hands of the Commander in Chief to use the strategic reserve when needed.

This bill also opens up areas to drilling and pollution that should be off-limits, like the coast of Florida. It could wreck our economy, our beautiful coastal waters and beaches, and areas that the Department of Defense needs for military training. Plus, it is completely unnecessary.

The oil and gas industry already controls large portions of public lands and waters. They aren't using it. They are sitting on approximately 9,000 approved but unused permits for drilling.

Finally, this is dangerous and costly and will exacerbate the climate crisis. The top scientists say we have a rapidly closing window to reduce climate pollution and avoid the worst impacts, but Republicans have abdicated their responsibility to keep these costs in check for everyday Americans.

True energy security and independence will come through clean energy, efficiency, and innovation. Twenty percent of electricity net generation in the U.S. right now comes from renewable sources. With the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law, we are on track now to lower costs, to create good-paying jobs, and to build safer, healthier, more resilient communities across the country.

This bill is an outrageous handout to polluters that will cost families and weaken energy security for America. In this Republican House, I guess Big Oil and the wealthy, powerful special interests win while everyday Americans will pay more.
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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Chair, H.R. 21 unnecessarily opens large swaths of public lands and waters to oil and gas drilling, including the coast of Florida. This would really jeopardize Florida's fragile offshore waters, our beautiful beaches. Clean water, clean air, clean beaches are central to our way of life, and are the cornerstone of our economy.

For many years, the State of Florida has enjoyed a moratorium on drilling because leaders at the national level recognized that Florida beaches and our offshore waters were a national resource.

That moratorium expired last year, unfortunately. So now with H.R. 21, Florida is at risk again. My amendment would reinstitute that moratorium. In fact, it would permanently ban drilling off of the coast of Florida.

This has enjoyed bipartisan support here in the Congress and back home. How do Floridians feel about drilling off of our beaches?

Well, we passed a constitutional amendment in 2018 that passed by almost 70 percent of the vote in the State of Florida. Democrats, Republicans, Independents, everyone values our way of life.

Why?

Because we are also keenly aware of how dirty it is, how risky it is. The impacts of oil drilling off our coast really came home to roost in 2010 after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil blowout severely affected the Gulf Coast marine ecosystems.

Do you all remember that disaster, watching it day after day, month after month, after oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico?

At that time we were pretty fortunate on the West Coast of Florida, we didn't have oil that washed up on the beaches, but we were just coming out of the Great Recession. It was a hammer down on small business owners at that time. People were not coming to the Sunshine State. It caused enormous environmental impacts. I remember so well, holding in my arms and looking into the eyes of these small, mom and pop owners of motels and hotels and beach businesses, they were just devastated.

We cannot put our economic and environment at risk again. It was a wake-up call.

The eastern Gulf of Mexico also is an important military testing range. The Department of Defense has said they oppose oil drilling off the coast of Florida along the west coast because they do so many military training exercises.

There are so many reasons that we need to act to protect our way of life, our environment, and our economy. It is what we sing about when we sing about protecting the Gulf Stream waters. This land is your land, this land is my land. They are not to be pillaged by the greed of the Big Oil companies.

We are poised to make important progress on the health of our oceans and our economy. We are about to unleash the clean energy economy to create jobs, to lower costs for families, to build safer, healthier, and more resilient communities. We do not need to put our economy and our way of life at risk.

So for all those reasons, I hope that all of the colleagues can join together to support the Castor amendment and permanently ban oil drilling off of the beautiful coastline of the State of Florida.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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