Energy Policy Act of 2003

ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2003

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise to express my concern over provisions included in the Senate Energy bill that threaten the existing moratoria on leasing and preleasing activities related to oil drilling on Georges Bank, off the coast of Maine, and other areas of the outer continental shelf.

Section 105 of the Energy bill requires the Department of the Interior to inventory all potential oil and natural gas resources in the entire outer continental shelf. This provision would allow potentially damaging seismic technology in the vital fishing grounds of Georges Bank.

Georges Bank is a magnificent American resource. The unusual underwater topography and tidal activity of Georges Bank create an almost self-contained ecosystem, unique within the ocean that surrounds it. It is one of the most productive fisheries in the world, where Mainers and many others harvest cod, haddock, yellowtail flounder, scallops, lobsters, swordfish, and herring.

Mainers have fished Georges Bank for hundreds of years. Hundreds of small communities in New England depend on fish from Georges Bank for economic support and their maritime-based way of life. In recent years, Maine's fishermen have made significant economic sacrifices to work toward sustainable and healthy fish stocks. I am extremely worried that any drilling activities, even preleasing activities, could destroy their work.

An oil spill on Georges Bank would have catastrophic effects on the Georges Bank ecosystem and the economies of the coastal communities of New England. Georges Bank experiences some of the most severe weather in the world, and the frequent storms, strong currents, and high winds would cripple any post-spill cleanup effort. For this reason, and because of its great biological value, many scientists, fishermen, and other persons concerned with and knowledgeable about the unique ecosystem of Georges Bank have urged that no drilling activities occur in this region.

I have long worked to protect Georges Bank from the potentially devastating impacts of offshore oil and gas drilling. In 1999, when the Government of Canada was considering whether or not to drill on Georges Bank, I introduced a resolution in the Senate that asked the Government of Canada to impose a moratorium on drilling on the Canadian side of Georges Bank until 2012. I was very relieved when, several months later, Canada did indeed impose such a moratorium. The United States also has a moratorium on drilling Georges Bank until 2012.

This issue again arose in May of 2001, when the Outer Continental Shelf Policy Committee recommended to the Secretary of the Interior that she encourage congressional funding to assess the oil and gas potential of offshore areas covered by the moratorium. The recommendations also included a suggestion to explore lifting parts of the existing moratorium.

In response, I worked to include language in the fiscal year 2002 Interior Appropriations bill that would prohibit the use of funds for offshore preleasing, leasing, or related activity on Georges Bank. Along with Senators KERRY, KENNEDY, and SNOWE, I cosponsored an amendment that prohibits the Department of the Interior from spending any funds on leasing, preleasing, or related activities in Georges Bank and the entire North Atlantic, as well as the West Coast off California, Oregon, and Washington, and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Our amendment was signed into law, and similar language has been included in subsequent Interior Appropriations bills.

I believe that Section 105 of the Energy bill is contradictory to the Interior Appropriations bill language and the expressed will of the Senate against the expenditure of funds for the use of preleasing activities in Georges Bank. I am pleased to join Senators GRAHAM, FEINSTEIN, DOLE, and many others in cosponsoring an amendment that will remove these provisions from the bill. I urge my colleagues to support our amendment.