Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, the Atlantic Coast has never been a site of significant offshore drilling, and for good reason. In my home State of Rhode Island and all along the coast, we know the importance of these waters to tourism and to the fisheries that they sustain. Indeed, waterways are part of our way of life. It is part of our identity and who we are. This amendment will instruct GAO to perform a study on the costs and the impacts of drilling on the coastal communities and their economies. This study will address how oil and gas companies interact with local stakeholders, including fishermen. It will explore how the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management works with other Federal agencies during siting. It will examine how response teams have reacted to offshore oil spills and the cost of those spills to tourism and the food supply of the affected region. And finally, it will analyze the caliber of the data that we have on hand today regarding these undrilled areas of the Outer Continental Shelf, and whether such data can be reliably used to gauge the impact of proposed drilling. These are all questions that have arisen during my conversations with fishermen, tourism leaders, and other Rhode Islanders deeply concerned about the risks of drilling off our coast. Mr. Chairman, I believe that offshore drilling puts the safety of our waterways at risk, which we have seen from numerous spills over the years, including the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout.…”