On the recordFebruary 6, 2018
I see my good friend the Senator from New Jersey here, and I just want to make a few comments, since I have been at the center of this firestorm. I am here again to talk about the mess that has been created by the 5-year drilling plan. Some of the reasons I have talked about it so much go beyond the fact that it is disastrous and dangerous, not only for all the coastal States but for our State of Florida, which has more beaches than any other State and is surrounded by test range. Indeed, just today, the largest rocket since the Apollo program to the Moon has brought back two of its boosters that didn't have to fall into the ocean. But some may, and you simply cannot have oil rigs out there in the Atlantic where we are testing our military rockets, such as today-- a commercial rocket, the Falcon Heavy, has dropped its initial stages. The same is true with the military on the west coast. The largest testing and training area for the U.S. military in the world is the eastern Gulf of Mexico off of Florida. That is why it is off limits in law for another 5 years, until the year 2022, and we need to expand that. Well, my colleagues have endured me so many times as I have talked about how disastrous it would be, but now we have a different wrinkle with the Department of the Interior. They first published a proposal that would open up nearly every inch of coastline of the entire United States. You are hearing all of these coastal Senators speak against it.…
