Ed Markey: “I wish to thank Senator Cantwell for organizing the opportunity this afternoon to speak about this egregious decision…”

“I wish to thank Senator Cantwell for organizing the opportunity this afternoon to speak about this egregious decision that was made by the Trump administration that will allow for drilling for oil off of the beaches of the United States of America. It is an absolute disgrace that this administration is doing something like this. What we have on our hands is a President who has a hard time listening to his own message. Last week, he was bragging about how much new oil we are discovering in America. He is so proud of this. In fact, we export a million and a half barrels of oil a day. Listen to that again: We export a million and a half barrels of oil a day. Where do we send this oil? We send it to China. We send it to other countries. Is the President happy with that? No, he says we need more oil; we need to drill off of our beaches--notwithstanding what that will do to our tourism industry, to our fishing industry, or to any industry that does business along the coastlines of our country. Ultimately, what would be the purpose to which this oil would be put? Export the oil. So how does that formula really work? The oil companies come to the beaches of Massachusetts or any other State. They set up rigs and start to drill for oil. They find the oil. Then, they sell that oil somewhere else around the world.…”