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)

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Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment.

I have heard a lot of facts from both sides for and against. And from a State that has been producing oil and gas off its coast in its coastal waters, on land, and every place else that is possible for well over 50 years, and I think Pennsylvania may have been the only State produced before Louisiana started, if you go back those 50 years, there is a lot that we could see environmentally that should have been done back there that would have protected America's wetlands, the estuaries and the marshes of South Louisiana.

That being said, now looking at today's technology, offshore drilling for oil or for gas is one of the cleanest that you will ever find. Yes, there are muds, there are liquids. But there are also liquids that are made from sugar. So my friends from Florida, we can keep that Florida industry healthy. It is biodegradable. It is something that can and is being used out there.

The thing that scares me the most, as we talk about energy independence, and the information that has been brought to the floor, is that we had, in an energy bill, a 125-mile barrier from Florida in the Gulf of Mexico, if I recall, in an energy bill this past year. While if you go 45 miles off of Key West, where those important fragile areas are down in that area, we have got China and Cuba in control of the oil and gas production. And that scares me even more so. And if you look in the latest weekly news, Russia is basically becoming dominant in the world for energy production, as are the countries in the Middle East.

If you look at their offshore drilling, I don't hear about all the oil spills. As a matter of fact, I went through Katrina, I went through Rita. And I heard the numbers, and I respect where the Member got the numbers because it was provided by somebody. But the only real oil spills I know of were in Chalmette, Louisiana, at the Murphy Oil Refinery and at the Phillips Petroleum Refinery, which are on land in Plaquemines and St. Bernard. Yes, there were some small oil leaks. There was probably more diesel fuel out of the tanks of some of those rigs that collapsed, but far less than what came out of the gas tanks in the ground in Chalmette, in St. Bernard, in Plaquemines, in Orleans Parishes and probably over on the gulf coast. Far more fuel leaked into the waters that flooded those cities.

As we move forward in this country and talk about energy independence, and when you pull up to that gas pump and you see that $3 figure up there, just remember those folks back home that are on fixed incomes, on Social Security, that are worried about how they pay the utility bill, much less how they fill their gas tank, whether they can buy the loaf of bread and milk or whether they need to have the gas in their car to get to the doctor.

We talk about tourism and fishing. The tourism in Louisiana has been better than it has ever been, particularly now that the industries have the technology. The fishing is phenomenal. Thirty percent of the seafood consumed in this country comes from the waters off Louisiana's coast, and we've been drilling for over 50 years. Deep water, shallow waters, coastal waters, inland waters, land-based, you name it. I implore everyone to think about this.

I respect tremendously my colleagues that have the fear of the environmental concerns. That is something that I share with you. But I've seen these oil companies. I've seen them in the past when they were awful; I've seen them today when they do an excellent job. The technology gets better by the day. The last oil spills that were of any consequence were done by ships hauling oil in from the Middle East, Venezuela and other locations. It wasn't by oil rigs offshore.

We're talking about natural gas. You can perforate a drilling pipe at any point in time or elevation or depth that you want. You can drill through oil, you can drill through water, you can drill through rock, you can drill through whatever is below there and sample what's there before you open it up, and if it's not natural gas, then you keep drilling until you get to the sand that you're looking for, perforate, and, yes, bring only natural gas in.

Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the opportunity. I implore, if we're going to make this country energy independent, we have to find the means. And gas, this amendment, helps us.

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