Gene Taylor: “That is a bad deal. That is a terrible deal for the taxpayer, and quite frankly, I believe something is rotten there.”

It really does gripe me that when the Block 1 cruisers were retired at less than 20 years, that was a terrible waste of the taxpayers' resource.

I think everyone on this committee was very frustrated with the attitude taken under the previous Secretary of Defense (SECDEF).

So if the State wished to have a ban for 12 miles from the shoreline or 12 miles out from the barrier islands, that would be within their jurisdiction under this bill?

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the hottest topic on the Mississippi gulf coast was a proposed ban on drilling 12 miles out, and that has kind of been put on hold. But anywhere from champions of industry who actually own shipyards that repair…