Political Quotes

“I raise this point of order not necessarily out of concern for the unmet, unfunded mandates, although there are many in H.R. 2021, the Jobs and Energy Permitting Act of 2011; I raise the point of order because it is one of the very few vehicles we have, given the House rule, by which we can actually talk about what is in this bill, and there are plenty of problems in this bill. I also note that the resolution includes H.R. 1249, which talks about patents, because that also violates the House's CutGo rule. Let me speak to H.R. 2021, the Jobs and Energy Permitting Act of 2011, which is actually better noted as the ``bad lung, emphysema and cancer act of 2011.'' This bill gives offshore oil companies a pass to pollute by exempting the offshore drilling companies from applying the pollution controls to vessels, which account for up to 98 percent of the air pollution from offshore drilling. I suppose, if you're in the Gulf of Mexico and the wind is blowing towards the shore, you would care about this; but in California, the wind almost always blows onto the shore, and the offshore drilling and the additional pollution that would be allowed because of this is a serious problem for California. It poses a health risk. Smoke, fumes, dust, ash, black carbon--all of these things--blow onto the shore in southern California where we already have quite enough air pollution without this additional amount.…”