Bill Nelson: “I will address some initial comments to both the chairman and the ranking member of the committee. Senator Bingaman and…”

“I will address some initial comments to both the chairman and the ranking member of the committee. Senator Bingaman and the chairman of the committee, Senator Domenici, have been very kind as we have discussed what is in the interests of my State and other coastal States. I will lay out my case. I want everyone to understand this is the initial laying out of the case. I hope the version I will give, over the next 15 or 20 minutes, will be the only speech I have to give on the subject of oil drilling off the coast of Florida. I hope we are not going to have to address this issue. I hope I will not have to address this because somebody--a Member of this Senate--will not be coming forth with an amendment to change the existing moratorium on oil drilling off the Outer Continental Shelf. The United States is depicted on this map in green; the Outer Continental Shelf area subject to the moratorium is off the Pacific coast from Washington in the North down to the southern end of California; on the Atlantic coast, off the tip of Maine all the way down to Florida; and the Outer Continental Shelf off of the gulf coast of Florida. This area depicted in blue is where there are existing, active leases for oil and gas drilling off of the coast of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. A better description of this is depicted in this map.…”