Political Quotes

“This amendment is not a coastal resilience amendment. This amendment has nothing to do with the underlying bill; in fact, it was a miracle that it was ruled germane. This amendment instead is simply an unneeded handout to oil and gas companies that takes us in exactly the wrong direction, not only on climate change, but on the very survival of our oceans. We all know, and I remind everybody, that this language is the exact language that in past Congresses was included in the other side's ocean drilling package that would have paved the way for faster permitting of seismic testing and ocean drilling. Why? Because our oceans marine mammals get in the way of that. Congress first enacted the Marine Mammal Protection Act over 40 years ago to protect all marine mammals in response to declines caused by human activities, and it has worked successfully for almost all of those years. The Marine Mammal Protection Act ensures that activities that may result in incidental harm or take of marine mammals are thoroughly reviewed, rather than permitted through the expedited and inadequate process proposed by this bill. Activities such as seismic air gun testing used for oil and gas exploration, offshore drilling, sonar, and geophysical surveys can all affect marine mammals.…”