C. W. Bill Young: “with adoption of the manager's amendment, this bill is going to give Floridians protection for their coast that we…”

“with adoption of the manager's amendment, this bill is going to give Floridians protection for their coast that we haven't ever had before. And I think it is important to note that some of our colleagues from Florida have misrepresented exactly what this bill is going to do. We have fought since 1983 to maintain a moratorium off Florida's Gulf Coast against drilling of any kind. This manager's amendment, and this bill, will guarantee that off of Florida's west coast, a district that I represent, Mr. Bilirakis represents, others represent, there will be a protection zone of 235, get this, 235 miles because in the manager's amendment the so-called military mission line is put into statute. It is made permanent and anything east of that line in the Gulf of Mexico there will be no drilling. So Florida's west coast is protected far and above where we had originally requested, 235 miles. That is a lot of protection. And this manager's amendment makes this bill good for Florida. {time} 1615”