Charlie Melancon: “Thank you, Mr. Pombo. Mr. Chairman, as I have expressed earlier and on numerous occasions, this oil and gas exploration…”

“Thank you, Mr. Pombo. Mr. Chairman, as I have expressed earlier and on numerous occasions, this oil and gas exploration is not what it was 50 years ago when it started offshore. Back then, yes, they discharged off the sides of the rigs. They didn't worry about the environment. In these days and times, not only is the technology so much better, but so is the enforcement of all the environmental laws. That includes offshore oil drilling. It has been a boon. And I tell my friends from Florida, you are putting artificial reefs out there that will bring fish. And if you think you have got tourists now and you think you have got good fishing now, these oil rigs will not hurt that whatsoever. I wish we had the beaches that you have. We don't. We have lost our beaches because through the years Louisiana has provided the oil and gas, approximately, these days, 30 percent of what is consumed by this Nation. And for decades we have received zero for our efforts on behalf of this country. After Katrina, after Rita, hundreds of square miles of Louisiana disappeared. It is gone. The only way we will ever be able to revive it or bring it back is to rebuild and restore our coastal marshes. Those coastal marshes are also responsible for about 25 percent of the seafood consumed in this country. That estuary, that marsh, that coastal land that we have lost, for years this Congress and previous administrations have put into bills ``wants.'' Wants.…”