Kathy Castor: “I thank my good friend from Florida on the Rules Committee for yielding time. I rise to oppose the rule and the…”

“I thank my good friend from Florida on the Rules Committee for yielding time. I rise to oppose the rule and the underlying bills, particularly H.R. 6082, because that bill unreasonably expands offshore drilling without the corresponding and necessary safety standards. The Republicans are ignoring the lessons that we learned after the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout. Again, they are putting the profits of the oil companies ahead of the safety and larger economic concerns of families and businesses all across our great country. Certainly, memories cannot be so short that we don't remember the devastation caused by the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout and disaster. That oil spewed for months and months, and they could not cap the well. In the meantime, it caused serious economic damage, not just to my home State of Florida and to the tourism industry and fishing and to the hotels and motels and restaurants, but all across the gulf coast and all across the country. I recall very well, prior to the blowout, they said it was safe. They said drilling in deep water and offshore was safe and that there hadn't been very many accidents. But they were wrong. I remember Tony Hayward came in front of our committee, and he said, We were wrong. We didn't anticipate this would happen. You've got to anticipate that it will happen. Unfortunately, in the aftermath, we appointed a blue ribbon commission, the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout.…”