Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the so-called PIONEERS Act that, among other things, repeals the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, or GOMESA. It's hard to believe that the lessons of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are already being forgotten, less than 2 years after almost 5 million barrels of oil flowed out into the ocean and devastated the gulf region's environment and economy. Through this horrible tragedy, we learned firsthand the dangers of drilling at extreme ocean depths and the difficulties in stopping a spill once it occurs. We also learned the dangers posed by the powerful Gulf of Mexico loop currents in the eastern gulf. These loop currents are capable of transporting spilled petroleum into the Florida Straits, through the Florida Keys, and onto shorelines up the Atlantic side of my home State, endangering hundreds of miles of coastline in Florida, and beyond up the east coast. We were extremely lucky that more of Florida was not affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 and that the site of the spill was not within these normally-occurring loop currents. Allowing drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico would place leasing directly within the strong loop current and is the height of folly. Even if we didn't have such a powerful precautionary tale as the Deepwater Horizon accident, drilling near Florida's coast simply doesn't add up. Florida's $65 billion tourism industry relies on pristine beaches.…”