Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to address the Senate on the occasion of the solemn memorial of 7 years since the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the resulting oilspill, where 11 workmen were tragically killed. The oilspill fouled the sensitive gulf ecosystem in ways that we still do not fully realize. Yet we are hearing today that the President is expected to issue an Executive order this week that ignores the implications of that tragedy, which was also the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, by blindly encouraging more drilling in very sensitive areas. I can tell you that drilling off the coast of Florida's neighboring States poses a real threat to our State's environment and our multibillion-dollar tourism industry, and that is because a spill off the coast of Louisiana can end up on the beaches of northwest Florida, just like a spill off the coast of Virginia or South Carolina can affect the entire Atlantic coast. BP, as a result of Deepwater Horizon, agreed to pay more than $20 billion in penalties to clean up the 2010 oilspill and repay gulf residents for lost revenue. But, apparently, that wasn't enough, if BP's recent spill in Alaska is any indication. So we shouldn't be surprised, since oil companies and their friends have fought against any new safety standards or requirements, that the President still wants to open up additional waters to drilling, despite the fact that we haven't applied the lessons learned from Deepwater Horizon.…”