Political Quotes

“Mr. President and colleagues, you will recall from our debate earlier this evening concerns raised about the equity of--most oil that is consumed and transported through this country or into this country pays a fee. It is an 8-cent-per-barrel fee that goes into the oilspill liability fund. One source of oil that does not pay that 8- cent-per-barrel fee is derived from the oil sands. There has been some discussion of whether--I think there is a fair amount of agreement that that does not seem right, it doesn't seem equitable, and it is not fair to assess an 8-cent-per-barrel fee on all these other sources of oil but not apply that to oil derived from tar sands. What I seek to suggest with my amendment is that an 8-cent-per-barrel fee be assessed on the oil derived from tar sands and the revenues derived therefrom would be deposited not in the oilspill liability fund but rather in the land and water conservation fund which has been in existence for many years. I believe the balance in the oilspill liability fund is measured in the billions of dollars. The balance in the land and water conservation fund is not. The moneys are much smaller, much more modest, and that money provides funding in all 50 States. Many of us know the need far outweighs the money appropriated every year for this program. The land and water conservation fund is also established not just to provide the revenues for national parks--and we are always looking for moneys for national parks.…”