On the recordJuly 15, 2010
Well, this moratorium's impact on our economy is greater than most imagined. It is not just along the Gulf Coast. But imagine, if you will, you have at this point both the 33 deepwater rigs that are now idle, leaving America, along with our American workers and our American vendors, but in the shallow waters, which has even a more sterling record of safe and secure exploration, which now is also idle because the Interior Department is not providing permitting in any timely fashion at all. So those rigs are going away, those workers are going away, and that impact is deep. On any one of those deepwater rigs, you have got at least 1,500 workers tied directly to the rig, Congressman Culberson, and more beyond that. Each rig may have 1,000 vendors supplying and servicing it, vendors throughout the United States. I am going to talk about that in a few moments with a map we have here on the floor as well. These companies are not the big companies. These are family-owned businesses, small and medium-sized businesses. They are already starting to lay off workers. They are already redeploying, as I think Halliburton and Schlumberger, or Halliburton Baker Hughes said they have already been forced to relocate some 4,000 jobs. And offshore development impacts at least 170,000 jobs, all of which are at risk with this moratorium. As small businesses have told us, who said, I have already laid off 20 percent of my workforce. Next week I lay off 50 percent of my workforce.
