Political Quotes

“Mr. President, for years, I have fought to keep oil rigs off the coast of Florida--both in federal waters and Cuban waters. As we've seen, an oil spill even hundreds of miles away from Florida can send the black stuff onto our beaches and close our fishing grounds. Risky exploration close to our shores endangers Florida's marine environment and tourism as well as our national security. Yet we know that drilling just a mere 45 miles off Florida's coast is possible and is coming from the behest of Cuba's communist regime. For years the Castros have been eager to develop undiscovered offshore oil resources, and have already started leasing off different plots of land. Later this year, the Spanish oil company Repsol, in a consortium with oil companies from Norway, India, Italy and others, is expected to drill a deepwater exploratory well roughly 20 miles northeast of Havana--right in the midst of currents that run up the eastern seaboard. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the North Cuba Basin could contain over four and a half billion barrels of recoverable crude oil. We now find ourselves in a grim situation. Over the past several years, I have asked both Republican and Democratic administrations to withdraw the diplomatic letters that we exchange with Cuba every 2 years. This exchange of letters is the only thing enforcing the 1977 Maritime Boundary Agreement, which has never been ratified by the U.S. Senate.…”