Providing for Consideration of H.R. 1229, Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. 1230, Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. FLEMING. I thank the gentleman, Mr. Bishop.

I am from Louisiana, and of course these leasing issues, the issues of drilling and oil production are very important to my State. And certainly any issue with regard to oil spills affects my State the most in the last year or so because of the Deepwater Horizon.

But here is the point I want to make: The President has said that oil production in the United States and offshore in the gulf is the highest it has ever been. When I asked Secretary Salazar in the Natural Resources Committee, he said the same thing. Then I asked Mr. Bromwich and he gave the same answer.

The truth is, Mr. Speaker, that the oil production off the Gulf of Mexico peaked at 1.7 million barrels a day. It is now down to 1.5 million barrels a day, and in the next year it will decrease by another 225,000 barrels a day. And even if we restore drilling permits at the level they have been previously, it will continue to decline over the next several years.

So I think we can ill afford, Mr. Speaker, at a time when our gas prices continue to go up, to continue this activity that we have, this ruse, where we have a slowatorium off the Gulf of Mexico.

I think we are up to about 12 permits in the deep water at this point. And I was speaking with the gentleman, an expert on this, yesterday. He said that we normally pace about 40 or 50 permits a year. So that means that we are at a fraction of what the actual permitting process would normally be in the best of times.

Now, some would say, well, we haven't proven that it is safe. Well, if that is true, why is the administration releasing permits? Obviously that is proof that the administration is comfortable that we can again drill in the deep water off the Gulf of Mexico.

So I say today that with America being at gas prices that will soon approach $5 a gallon and the USGS now saying that we now have more coal, natural gas, and oil than we have ever thought we would have, really more than any other country in the world, including Russia, and many more times than what Saudi Arabia has, 1.3 trillion barrels of oil equivalent if you add coal, natural gas, and oil, why in the world are we pulling back on the exploration and production of these vital resources that we have?

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. BISHOP of Utah. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. FLEMING. I thank the gentleman.

I will say in summary, I am from the Fourth District of Louisiana where we have a veritable Saudi Arabia of natural gas in my district, the most natural gas in North America and the fourth largest deposit in the world, and we didn't even know about it 4 years ago. That just goes to show you how new technologies in the area of exploration and development are creating many more resources than we ever thought we had, and it will help stabilize our prices.

So I ask that we pass this bill today and that we finally get this country back onto stable footing.

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