Bob Dole: “since 1993 a moratorium has been in place on oil and gas exploration off the coast of North Carolina, thus protecting…”

“since 1993 a moratorium has been in place on oil and gas exploration off the coast of North Carolina, thus protecting vital coastal areas from drilling. This moratorium has provided a much needed boost to our coastal economy and my entire State. Each year, thousands of families flock to North Carolina beaches to enjoy the sun, dip in the cool waters, and spend time with family and friends. Visitors provide much needed tourism dollars that create and sustain jobs. This moratorium has worked. Only 2 years ago, I helped lead the successful effort to stop an attempt to lift the moratorium on oil and gas exploration off the coast of North Carolina and many other States. Yet here we are, once again, confronting the same proposal to undermine the moratorium and open new areas of the Outer Continental Shelf to oil and gas development. I am proud to join a bipartisan group of my colleagues in offering an amendment to strike a provision in the Energy bill that exposes currently restricted environmentally sensitive coastal areas to oil and gas exploration. I especially thank my friend and colleague, Senator Mel Martinez, for his true leadership on this issue in his first year in the Senate. There is no question that now more than ever we must work to end our dependence on foreign oil. But we cannot do so by ignoring the wishes and economic needs of the majority of the people of North Carolina and many other coastal States that oppose this exploration.…”