John Cornyn: “I rise to say a few words in opposition to the Graham-Feinstein amendment. I am opposed to this amendment for several…”

“I rise to say a few words in opposition to the Graham-Feinstein amendment. I am opposed to this amendment for several significant reasons. This amendment would restrict our ability to conduct an inventory and analysis of our own energy resources. Section 105 of this bill will commission a comprehensive scientific study by the Department of the Interior concerning the energy resources of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. It will provide the groundwork for an informed debate on the offshore drilling issue. This amendment will only decrease our knowledge of these issues. That is why I call it a know-nothing amendment. The American public has a right and a need to know the status of its national resources. We survey, catalog, and inventory our forests, our fisheries, our coal reserves, and other valuable living and non-living natural resources. We should also allow for the study of our domestic offshore energy resources. The information that we currently have concerning our oil and natural gas resources is limited, dated, and lacks the specificity required for this important debate. This legislation will allow the Department of the Interior to use the latest technology, except drilling, to update its resource estimates using all the available scientific data. As we reexamine our growing energy needs for the future, the geopolitical reality of our Nation's dependence on foreign oil becomes all the more disturbing.”