Steven Holt: “I thank my friend from Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 1230. This is the first in the…”

“I thank my friend from Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 1230. This is the first in the Republican ``amnesia acts'' that ignore what happened last year in the Gulf of Mexico. It would force the Department of Interior to rush into holding new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Virginia, not far from New Jersey, I might add, even though Congress has not enacted a single piece of legislation to improve the safety of offshore drilling. The President's spill commission reported that offshore drilling in U.S. waters is four times more deadly than drilling elsewhere in the world, even for the same companies. Clearly there is a safety problem that must be addressed. And I must emphasize, because they have talked about it again and again, they are talking about high oil prices, high prices at the pump. We feel it. Everybody in America feels it. Do they address it? No, they do not address gasoline prices. It actually accelerates handouts to Big Oil, this legislation does. In addition to being silent on safety concerns, this prohibits any further environmental review in the gulf based on the lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon last year. That tragedy exposed the woefully inadequate ways in which the environmental reviews had been done in the Gulf of Mexico. Need I remind the Speaker or the majority that there are no walruses to protect in the Gulf of Mexico? As you heard from Mr.…”