James Davis: “I thank Representative Capps for yielding. One of the things that everyone agrees on tonight with respect to this…”

“I thank Representative Capps for yielding. One of the things that everyone agrees on tonight with respect to this amendment is that we need to have an adequate supply of energy to meet the needs of this country. Eighty percent of the known oil and gas reserves in the Outer Continental Shelf are already available to the energy companies that need them. There are more than 4,000 leases held by these energy companies that are currently not used at all. It is important to point out what this amendment does. The amendment says it allows drilling for gas up to 3 miles off the east coast of Florida, 9 miles off the coast of Florida, my home the West Coast, as well as the Outer Continental Shelf of the United States. It has been pointed out, and it has not been objected to, this is not just about gas, it is also about oil because if a company makes an investment to earn a profit for gas and they get oil, they are going to go for oil. The bitter irony here is off the coast of Florida there is very little oil. It is really a drop in the bucket. That is why the amendment does not talk about oil, but it is enough to make a difference to the State of Florida. There has been a lot of conversation here tonight about other States, about this being about jobs. Let me tell you about my home State Florida. This is about jobs. Last year, we had 88 million tourists visit our State.…”