Political Quotes

“Thank you, Congressman Garamendi. It was such a pleasure serving with you in the California legislature when we adopted a lot of legislation dealing with handling oil. Tonight I would like to share with you essentially a tale of two States, States that are both oil-producing States, States that both have offshore oil drilling, and those two States are California and Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, the comparison here is one that essentially I really want to ask Governor Jindal: Ask not what the Federal Government can do for Louisiana, but what Louisiana should be doing for its own constituency, as California has done for its constituency, knowing that we have an oil economy, somewhat of an oil economy in the State, and certainly an offshore oil economy. The comparison is this. Both States have an oil response. California has a strong law on oil response. Louisiana has a very weak law on oil response. Why? That is something that Louisiana ought to correct. The California statute has stations throughout California, places to clean up wildlife. It is paid for, it is implemented. It is essentially large, wildlife veterinary hospitals. The one in my district, you could even bring a small whale in there and operate on it. Louisiana has no such network, no such program, and no such allocation of resources. Another big disability, big difference between the two, liability caps. Louisiana has a cap on liability. California has no cap on damages. Louisiana has a cap on damages.…”