Department of the Interiror, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2007 -- Continued
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007--Continued
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Chairman, let me follow up on what the gentlewoman said. I was in New Jersey in the late 1980s where I live, and we saw the beaches closed. We saw the entire tourism industry destroyed for not only that one summer in 1988 but two or three summers afterwards.
I listened to what the previous speaker here on the Republican side said, and he talked about jobs. He talked about the economy. He talked about housing. That is what is at stake here. In my home State of New Jersey, people think of New Jersey as an industrial State, tourism is as big an industry in New Jersey as the petrochemical industry. We depend on that tourism economy, and we cannot have our beaches dirtied by an oil spill that would result from natural gas drilling. And don't tell me that you are going to drill for natural gas and you are not going to affect oil. There is no question that you can.
The problem I see here is that the gentleman from Pennsylvania said, well, this is not a real debate because if this happens it won't matter because the President has an executive order. Well, I can't depend on the President. The President is an oil man. For all I know he could lift the executive order if this legislation goes through and you can drill for natural gas and we don't have the moratorium in effect any more.
I want you all to understand that we are not just talking here pie in the sky. We have seen our beaches closed. We have seen the impact. In New Jersey, tourism is 500,000 jobs, $16.6 billion in wages, and $5.5 billion in State tax revenue. You shut that down, the way it was closed in the late 1980s in New Jersey because of a different type of pollution, and you basically shut down a significant portion of our State. We are talking about real things here.
When you talk about the fact that you can drill for natural gas and you are not going to hit oil, every indication is the opposite. The American Petroleum Institute has said the opposite and the Minerals Management Service has said the opposite. And we are talking 3 miles from shore. You could actually see these rigs. We could actually have oil rigs right up to 3 miles from the shore if this legislation passes and we don't have this amendment.
Pass this amendment.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
http://thomas.loc.gov