Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I commend my colleague Senator Murkowski, who occupies certainly one of the most important positions in the country with regard to energy as the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, for her leadership on this bill and so many other bills. I am proud to be a cosponsor, with a number of other Senators, of the American Energy and Conservation Act, which will be taken up here in a few minutes. I echo what Senator Murkowski said about this bill. It is a commonsense bill. We already have revenue sharing for onshore oil and gas production, so it only makes sense--really it is only fair, as she noted very articulately--that the States closest to the impacts of OCS drilling also receive their fair share of revenues from resource extraction off their coast. Again, as Senator Murkowski mentioned, this is not going to open up development where States don't want it. It is just providing a fair share to the communities that bear some of the impact of development in the States that do want it, like my State. That is what this is about. I am hoping all of my colleagues will vote favorably for this very important bill. Senator Murkowski also talked about how this bill does not open new areas. At the same time we certainly should not be shutting down areas that exist right now for responsible resource development in this country.…”