Ed Markey: “I thank the gentleman. Mr. Chairman, this provision reminds me of something that French author Anatole France once said.…”

“I thank the gentleman. Mr. Chairman, this provision reminds me of something that French author Anatole France once said. He said that the law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal bread. So, yes, under the bill's petroleum protest poll tax, the rich as well as the poor are charged $5,000 as a fee to protest an oil company drilling plant that could undermine the environment or the safety or the view of a particular individual; but the law is clearly targeted against the poor. So if you are one of the super-rich like, say, Mitt Romney, having to pay a $5,000 fee to protest is nothing. It's less than half of what you offer up when you make a friendly little bet with a friend. If you're the Koch brothers and you want to stop the Cape Wind project from blocking your view out on the ocean, that's a small price to pay to be able to undermine a project that you're not happy with. For everyone else, this is basic economic discrimination. This $5,000 fee isn't just a tollbooth on the highway of justice. It is a brick wall. Just by contrast, the United States Supreme Court--the highest court in the land--charges $300 to appeal a case. For an American citizen who is earning minimum wage, it would take 4 months of working full time and forgoing food and shelter in order to pay this protest fee which the Republicans want to put on the books.…”