I hope that Assistant Secretary Darcy will accompany me to the Netherlands, where they protect their people from floods.

This is not just a Southern issue. It is not just a Gulf Coast issue.

It is very conceivable that this action by our own Government will turn out to have more economic devastation than the spill itself.

We are going to continue to have hearing after hearing in this committee, if necessary, until this issue is brought squarely before the American public.

Lifting this moratorium can give us back its 'Joie de vivre.'

This Administration seems to be ignoring the fact that this action has actually increased environmental risk.

I sent a letter to President Obama yesterday announcing my intention to hold another hearing no later than September 16th.

This should not and must not be a political game.

The irony of this decision is that they are the only ones drilling right now in the Gulf.

We must get the Gulf of Mexico back producing for national security, for our environmental, and for small businesses.

My question to President Obama and to his Administration after they scrambled to put an economic analysis together that they should have put together before they made this decision is: Who is going to pick up the cost of this?

Tens of thousands of hard-working American lives hang in the balance.

The Administration's decision to halt drilling activity did more than threaten the livelihood of thousands of rig workers and oil and gas service crews; it drastically reduced the amount of economic activity taking place in the Gulf Coast…

We believe that we can have a vibrant tourism industry.

the only company drilling in the Gulf of Mexico today in deep water is the company that caused the spill--British Petroleum.

I too believe the moratorium is arbitrary and capricious.

Idling the deepwater rigs that were permitted to drill in the deepwater Gulf will immediately impact as many as 46,000 crewmen.

Our Federal Government has a responsibility, particularly in these difficult times, to make sure that their paychecks will not turn into pink slips.

It is an extremely important point.

This decision was wrong-headed, it is irresponsible, and it is reckless.

We are not sure if you can fish in the same waters that you can drill oil and gas.

This decision to halt all new energy production in the Gulf of Mexico appears to have been made in an uninformed manner and, in my view, borders on reckless.

unnecessary, ill-conceived, and a second economic disaster for the Gulf Coast. The BP oil spill was the exception rather than the rule.

We cannot close down the offshore oil and gas sector without devastating economic impacts to our region.

I share the Administration's goal of a safer oil and gas industry, not their method to achieve that.