On the recordMarch 27, 2012
It is a very good paying job. This is a very good point because I have tried to remind everyone here that this oil and gas industry that exists in Louisiana and Alaska does not just support the people of our States. Think about it. There are only 500,000 people in Alaska. If that is going to create 50,000 jobs, that would be 1 for every 10 people. But people fly in and fly out. They will work for 2 weeks or a month and fly back. We have people working on our rigs that are from Maine or from Colorado or from New Mexico or from New York. Most of the people who work offshore are from the Gulf Coast States, I might say. You can tell this when you drive through the parking lots and see the license plates which are easy to spot. But I can tell you there are people from all over the country who work in this industry. If I showed you a supplier line, you would see supplies coming from all over the United States to fund the operations like, for instance, the boat that is going to be operating in Alaska was built by people from Louisiana. Some of those boats are built in Mississippi, and some of that may even come from the east coast. I do not know if the Senator is familiar with that.
