Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to engage in a colloquy with my colleague from Rhode Island, Mr. Whitehouse, and my colleague from West Virginia, Mr. Rockefeller. Mr. President, I want to thank the chairman of the Commerce Committee for his leadership in advancing this bill. As he, Senator Whitehouse, and I have discussed, there is significant concern with respect to the safety and security of proposed liquefied natural gas, LNG, facilities throughout the country. Given the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, we know that no system for handling volatile substances is fool-proof. Over the last several years, the people of Rhode Island have been greatly concerned about proposals to develop LNG facilities on or in close proximity to Rhode Island's shores, as well as proposals to transit LNG traffic through our waterways. I have come to the floor on many occasions to express my deep concerns about the wisdom of these projects; not as a matter of reflexive opposition to LNG but as a matter of the appropriateness of siting these facilities with little State control. This includes a proposal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that will have significant impact on the State of Rhode Island, as it calls for vessels to transit through Narragansett Bay and off-load at an offshore berth in Mount Hope Bay just outside of Rhode Island waters.…”