Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I filed two amendments to the emergency supplemental bill that focused on the desperate need for gulf fisheries data in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration knows our oceans and has responsibilities under several Federal laws to analyze the impacts of oil and gas production on sea life. My first amendment would have added $22 million in funding to support baseline environmental monitoring and assessments of the Gulf of Mexico's fisheries. $5 million of that funding would have gone to cooperative research grants that would have allowed fishermen to get out on the water and help collect this data. These funds are needed so that NOAA can do this valuable research throughout the gulf before the oil hits and then again while the spill moves. Like my colleague from New Jersey, Senator Lautenberg, I am committed to ensuring that those responsible bear the costs of this incident. And so my amendment would have required that the parties responsible for this spill reimburse these funds so that the American taxpayer doesn't shoulder this burden in the longrun. Why do we need this information? At a commerce hearing on May 18, Dr. French-Mckay, a Ph.D. in biological oceanography, testified that the lighter hydrocarbons in the oil--chemicals like benzene and toluene-- would dissolve by the time the oil reaches Florida's coral reefs.…”