Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008
Floor Speech
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 26, 2007)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
Mr. Chairman, I greatly appreciate and respect, frankly, the passion and the consistent passion of the sponsor of this amendment. He's been very consistent and passionate to try to make sure that the United States is as independent from foreign sources of energy as possible.
However, I think we can do that without this amendment because there are many areas that are available for oil and gas exploration without this amendment. And this amendment overturns a longstanding bipartisan moratorium on new natural gas drilling in areas, in certain areas that are too close to sensitive coastlines.
Congress addressed this issue, as the gentleman from Florida had said a little while ago, Mr. Young, year after year, and last year we had a huge battle and, I think, a compromise, which none of us thought was great, but it was a compromise, which I think kind of hopefully settled this issue at least for a while in that compromise.
This amendment would, unfortunately, allow for natural gas drilling way too close to our precious coastlines. It can potentially damage sensitive habitats. Just the byproducts of drilling itself can be potentially damaging, and it can be very damaging to the ecosystem and particularly, for example, to the economy of the State of Florida.
Mr. Chairman, tourism alone accounts for $57 billion to the economy of the State of Florida. Imagine what an impact if we were to do something that jeopardizes that vital industry for Florida, but also for the national economy.
And, again, there are many other areas that are available for oil and gas drilling without this amendment. So I would respectfully, and understanding the passion and where it comes, and obviously I understand that he's trying to do what he believes is right for the country, but I think we can do it in a way that also balances the coastlines' sensitivity to the environment that this will be close to.
I think the bipartisan arrangement compromise that we did last year does that and therefore, very respectfully I would ask for a ``no'' vote on this amendment.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source