Offshore Energy and Jobs Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

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Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Chairman, our Nation is in the middle of an exciting energy revolution, but we will never truly reach energy security as long as 85 percent of our offshore areas remain off limits to oil and gas manufacturers.

Chairman Hastings' Offshore Energy and Jobs Act on the floor today will open more offshore areas to energy development and bring our Nation closer toward the bipartisan goal of energy independence. This is a great thing.

In particular, Chairman Hastings' innovative bill allows State Governors to request that certain offshore areas be included in the 5-year leasing plan. This gives States more power to unlock offshore energy resources and the jobs and the affordable energy that go along with responsible offshore energy development.

I'm offering an amendment to strengthen that language based on my More Energy, More Jobs legislation recently introduced with my colleagues, Mr. Wittman of Virginia and Mr. Shimkus of Illinois. It will require the Interior Department to include all these areas requested by State Governors in the environmental review process for the leasing plan.

The National Environmental Policy Act requires all major Federal actions, including offshore leasing plans, to undergo an environmental review. For offshore leasing, this is an environmental impact statement. Typically, this is a 2-year process at least, and a first step for including any area in an offshore leasing plan. Without environmental impact statements, new areas can't be leased for offshore drilling.

My amendment will bring more areas into consideration for offshore energy development and move them further along in the leasing process, regardless of whether they are included in the final leasing plan.

More importantly, it will make it easier for future Congresses to pass leasing plans like the underlying bill because more offshore areas will have gone through the necessary environmental review process.

I'd like to thank Chairman Hastings for working with me both on this amendment and including some of our ideas in the underlying bill. With this struggling economy and our Nation in the midst of an energy revolution, now is the time to act to unleash more American-made energy and more American jobs.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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Mr. BRADY of Texas. I yield to the gentleman.

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Mr. BRADY of Texas. Thank you, Chairman Hastings.

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Mr. BRADY of Texas. I yield 1 minute to the chairman of the committee, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings).

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Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

I am ready to close whenever the ranking member is.

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Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

This is a commonsense amendment that helps us responsibly develop our traditional energy sources for more jobs, more revenue to help balance this budget, and more affordable energy for America.

I urge my colleagues' support, and I yield back the balance of my time.

The CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady).

The amendment was agreed to.

AMENDMENT NO. 2 OFFERED BY MR. HASTINGS OF FLORIDA

The CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 2 printed in part B of House Report 113-131.

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