Mark Souder: “This is a very difficult vote for me and many others who are concerned about our fish and wildlife areas. But there was…”

“This is a very difficult vote for me and many others who are concerned about our fish and wildlife areas. But there was an agreement made in Alaska that set part of this area aside for potential oil and gas drilling, a very small portion. This amendment is an excellent amendment because it limits it even further. How do we balance environment and energy needs in our country? This is another attempt to try to do that. In fact, if you try to undo deals that have already been made, are we going to go to Massachusetts with the Boston Islands national park area and say all of a sudden Logan Airport has to be kicked out after when they created a park area, they agreed with certain things in the restrictions with that park area. I also want to strongly support the gentleman from New Hampshire's earlier amendment that takes the funds into the national parks and other public areas. Some have criticized that amendment as well as nothing but a ruse, as a gimmick. But the fact is in the CARA bill, which I support, we said when we do offshore drilling we are going to take those funds and put them into environmentally-sensitive areas in the States where the drilling occurs. The gentleman from New Hampshire's two amendments, in fact, are perfecting amendments that make this bill better. I cannot imagine why anybody who is pro-environmental would vote against either one.”