Nick Lampson: “I am from Texas, and Texas is the land of oil and the land of energy. That energy does not just come from below the…”

“I am from Texas, and Texas is the land of oil and the land of energy. That energy does not just come from below the ground we walk on, it also comes from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. The amendment that my fellow Texan and I have introduced would direct the Secretary of Energy to take a good look at further developing the natural gas and oil deposits at existing drilling sites off the coast of Louisiana and Texas. It is important that the United States have a balanced energy research, development, and demonstration program to enhance fossil energy. The reports that come out of this amendment could possibly change the energy policy and production of the United States. The infrastructure for oil and gas exploration in the Gulf is already in place. We might be sitting on production possibilities that could solve our immediate energy problems, but without this amendment and the reports that it would require we might not ever find out. Texas and the Gulf of Mexico have been an energy supplier to the United States for generations, and I believe the resources are there to continue in that production as we develop the natural gas and oil reserves in the ultra-deepwater of the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico.”