Douglas Alexander: “I salute Senator Domenici, Senator Sessions, Senator Landrieu, Senator Vitter, Senator Martinez, and many others who…”

“I salute Senator Domenici, Senator Sessions, Senator Landrieu, Senator Vitter, Senator Martinez, and many others who have worked hard on this piece of legislation. Two years ago, the idea of giving additional authority for offshore drilling for oil and gas was an unmentionable subject around here. No one would bring it up in polite conversation. Last year, with the price of natural gas reaching $14 a unit, we had about 50 Senators who would support it, but that wasn't 60. Yesterday, I believe we had more than 70 on the cloture vote. We recognize there are environmentally sound ways to go a long way offshore, as we are here, where we cannot see it from the shore, and look for oil and gas. We have learned to do that in a way that is so safe that less oil and gas seeps into the ocean from that process than comes from natural seepage out of the ground. We have learned to do that and to do that well. We have also come a long way in recognizing that it is good policy to say if we are going to spend an asset--and by that I mean create an environmental burden--drilling for oil and gas, we ought to create an asset and spend some of the money for wetlands in the more affected States and through the State side of the Land and Water Conservation Fund in all of the other States. This is an important piece of legislation. It helps blue-collar workers. It helps farmers. It helps homeowners who are paying skyrocketing bills to deal with 100-degree heat.…”