Political Quotes

“Senator Kerry of Massachusetts and I have introduced the Kerry-Snowe Georges Bank amendment to the fiscal year 2002 Interior Appropriations bill today to make absolutely certain that language in the fiscal year 2002 Interior Appropriations bill before us is modified to ensure that there will be no pre-leasing activities on Georges Bank. Language in the bill does prohibit the expenditure of funds by the Department of Interior for activities related to offshore leasing in the North Atlantic area, but I wanted the guarantee that pre-leasing activities would be out of bounds as well. Currently, both the United States and Canada have moratoria on oil and gas exploration until 2012 for the ecologically sensitive Georges Bank. What the Kerry-Snowe amendment does is include language in the Senate bill to prohibit any pre-leasing activities for the Georges Bank area, such as is included for the Mid- and South Atlantic.”