Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3534, the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act and H.R. 5851, the Offshore Oil and Gas Worker Whistleblower Protection Act. Over 100 days ago, millions of gallons of oil began spilling into the Gulf Mexico after an explosion on a BP deepwater drilling rig, which tragically killed eleven workers. In the months since this accident, the Committees of jurisdiction in the House of Representatives have held numerous hearings to determine what went wrong and how to prevent similar disasters in the future. I believe both the CLEAR Act and Whistleblower Protection Act take critical steps to properly reform our oil and gas drilling policies, as well as to protect the safety of oil and gas workers. This comprehensive legislation will end years of misaligned priorities at the Minerals Management Service (MMS) at the Department of the Interior (DOI) by dividing its responsibilities into three different departments: the Bureau of Energy and Resource Management to manage leasing and permitting; the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to police health and safety regulations; and the Office of Natural Resource Revenue to collect the American people's energy revenues earned on public lands. The bill further addresses misconduct by the MMS by implementing strong ``revolving door'' provisions that would ban MMS employees from accepting employment with oil and gas companies for two years.…”