Ted Poe: “When the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, there was no plan to handle that disaster. The…”

“When the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, there was no plan to handle that disaster. The Federal Government was missing in action. Now the Feds have a moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling. The administration plan, based upon President Obama's speech last night, can be summed up quite well in the Los Angeles Times, and I quote, ``Obama's speech: There is a pipe spewing a gazillion gobs of oil into the gulf, so let's build more windmills.'' Yes, Madam Speaker, that seems to be the plan of the administration: Close down deepwater drilling and maybe build windmills. Why would we shut down this industry in the Gulf of Mexico? And what is the purpose of this plan? The moratorium is preventing drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for the next 6 months or even longer. When we have a plane crash, Madam Speaker, when people die, and that's a horrible thing, we don't close down the entire airline industry for 6 months. That wouldn't make sense. But shutting down the offshore drilling for 6 months or more is going to be the second disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. And it's expanding the economic destruction caused by this explosion and this oil spill. It will put 50,000 people or more out of work in the entire gulf region. It affects my State of Texas and Louisiana and Mississippi the most.”