Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 1941, the Coastal and Marine Economies Protection Act, to ban new offshore drilling along the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. My district is home to over 50 miles of beautiful California coastline. It is home to some of the world's premier marine research institutions, not to mention some of the best surfing in the country. In San Diego and Orange Counties, the ocean economy accounts for $7.7 billion and sustains more than 140,000 jobs in coastal tourism and recreation. All it will take to jeopardize those jobs is a massive spill like the one we saw off the coast of Santa Barbara in 2015, which poured 142,000 gallons of crude oil into the water and onto beaches across southern California. That is why the people I represent have made their voices heard loud and clear: No more drilling off our coast. We can't allow the fossil fuel industry and their friends in the Trump administration to exploit our oceans for their own profit, roll back safety regulations that help prevent spills, and threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs. I expect we will hear a lot more from my friends across the aisle, many of whom represent landlocked districts, who claim there is nothing to worry about. Well, they should know that the folks who actually live in coastal communities won't stop fighting to protect our oceans and our jobs.”