National Security and Dependence on Oil
Floor Speech
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Mr. GARAMENDI. Representative Chu, thank you very much for your statement and also mentioning the end of new oil leases off the West Coast. We call it the West Coast Ocean Protection Act. And it would prohibit new leases off the West Coast of the United States. This is a $32 billion a year industry along the West Coast--California, Oregon, and Washington--that is dependent upon the pristine nature of that coast. In addition to that, the West Coast has a much different environment than the Gulf of Mexico. It's downright dangerous out there. High waves, high wind, and earthquakes, and a lot of other things that we'd say, Oh, that's not a good place to be drilling.
It's not enough to talk about the West Coast. I see my colleague from New York here, and I know that he, too, along with the residents of New York, are terribly interested in what is happening and in our natural energy policies and our move away from oil.
Congressman Tonko, if you would, please join us.
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Mr. GARAMENDI. Representative Tonko, thank you once again for being both eloquent and right on the target of the issue that's out before us. When you talk about the nature of the spill, this map is a recent one from the US Geological Survey and NOAA--actually, NOAA. And if you look at the size of that spill, it looks like it's getting about the same size as Louisiana itself, and of course, the Gulf Coast along here is seriously threatened and the extraordinary wildlife and habitat of the Mississippi Delta is at risk and already seriously hurt by it.
You mentioned BP--and maybe, maybe, but I'm not convinced that BP has actually gotten the message that their first task is to clean up. Their $50 million PR campaign, I've seen some of the ads. If they had spent that $50 million on the proper blowout protector and actually had put in the most modern protection at the well head and not cut the corners, as is becoming increasingly obvious, in the drilling techniques and in securing the well itself, they wouldn't have to be spending multiple billions of dollars cleaning up.
They absolutely must put that money into a trust fund. BP is not to be trusted to adequately distribute that money to the people that have been harmed. So the President is right. Create the trust fund. Put an independent party in charge of it and let the money go to those that have been seriously harmed by this, as well as the wildlife and the damages there.
By the way, we really ought to pass a bill to increase the liability limit. And I know that bill will be moving through here.
Joining us from--well, my neighbor in California, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who about 2 years ago, you experienced an oil spill on the shores of your district.
Representative Lee, thank you for joining us.
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Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you very much, Representative Lee. And thank you for all the work you did dealing with that problem in the San Francisco Bay when the ship hit the bridge. We had our own little spill over there.
I had pulled this placard up with the pictures of the oil and the birds. And I didn't realize until you started talking about the escalation and the estimate of the amount of oil that spilled--my staff put this together actually about 4 weeks ago--and they said by Father's Day it would be the worst spill ever. At 60,000 barrels, it was actually the worst spill after about the first 3 weeks. So in any case, we have got a real serious problem there.
I notice that I have fortunately been joined by three Representatives from a wide, diverse part of America. From the west coast, in the great metropolitan area of Los Angeles, Congresswoman Watson, if you would care to join us.
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Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Moran, how correct you are: never let this happen again. It is not just drill, baby, drill. What we have seen is spill, baby, spill. There have been 38 blowouts in the gulf between 1992 until 2009. You used the words irresponsible actions, corners being cut, and decisions being made that led to this blowout. You mentioned the $500,000 that could have been spent and should have been spent on an acoustical switch.
I was talking to one of our colleagues here who was a former Federal prosecutor, and the colleague said to me, if there is evidence that two of the BP executives worked together to circumvent a law or regulation, it may very well be criminal conspiracy. To that end, the Obama Justice Department has initiated a criminal probe of BP's actions with regard to this spill. We know that this is not the first time BP has been involved in a serious accident that has cost lives: 11 at this drilling rig; at their refinery in Texas, another large number of employees were both injured and killed. It is time for this industry to get its act together.
I know that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko) has been involved in this for very long. If you would pick this up and carry us for a little while.
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Mr. GARAMENDI. The answer is oil. If you take a look, 2002 to 2008, where did the subsidies go? Well, the oil industry got over $70 billion of taxpayer money in direct tax subsidies, $72 billion. The green renewable energy got $12.2 billion over that same period of time, 2002 to 2008. And in addition to that, the ethanol industry got $16.8 billion.
So we really, if we took this money, this subsidy, $70 billion over a 6-year period and shifted it over to this side, particularly up here to the renewable energy--this is solar, wind, advanced biofuels like algae and the rest--where would we be? Where would that young lady's future be? Renewable energy of all kinds. You shift the subsidies around.
Is that possible? Can we do that? What do you think?
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Mr. GARAMENDI. About 18 months ago they sat here and they said, ``Drill, baby, drill''? I heard the same thing tonight. They said, End the moratorium on deepwater drilling. Drill. And I am going, You want another oil spill? Thirty-eight in the last 18 years in the gulf plus this big one. That's not the solution.
The solution lies in moving to a new energy source, the green technologies, the renewable energy, so that it is the sun that gives us the power in the future so that that young lady doesn't have to face the extraordinary impact that climate change will bring. We have to move away from carbon-based fuels.
Would you agree with that?
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