On the recordJuly 15, 2010
We all represent an area of the State of Texas that is dramatically impacted by the oil and gas industry. And having a district on the Gulf Coast representing about 20 percent of the Nation's oil refineries, this is an especially serious incident that has occurred offshore, this BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. No question about it, this problem, this accident has to be solved. I understand within the last hour that the cap that has now been placed on the well by BP is apparently working. Hopefully, it will be working long enough for them to finish drilling the other two wells to solve this problem. And we always must be mindful of the people that were killed in this tragedy, plus the tremendous damage it has done to certain parts of our environment. But we cannot allow this accident to be an overreaction. And I think the Federal Government has overreacted in this situation. The deep water in the Gulf of Mexico provides 17.3 percent of the Nation's domestic crude oil, and the Federal Government now has said, No more deepwater drilling until 6 months or when we get back with you. Now, no industry, whether it's a doughnut shop or the oil and gas industry or anybody else, can be shut down for 6 months by the Federal Government and expect to survive. And these deepwater rigs are not cheap endeavors. They cost $500,000 a day to drill in the deep water.
