[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 16, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H4578-H4584]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL SECURITY AND DEPENDENCE ON OIL
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 2009, the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Disclosure
Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, I rise today to engage in a colloquy
with my colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle, who will be
along shortly, but before I launch into the issue of national security
and of our dependence on oil, I would like to just address what my
colleague from California was talking about, give an example of why
disclosure is important, and would like to recognize the fact that it
was the Republican Party mantra for nearly 20 years that the solution
to campaign finance reform was disclosure. Now, apparently, they want
to stand up and say they don't want disclosure after having, for 20
years, said they want disclosure.
Go figure.
The fact of the matter is, in California, in an election held just 2
weeks ago, disclosure under the State law has played a critical role in
stopping Pacific Gas & Electric from ripping off the ratepayers of
California and has played a critical role in stopping Mercury Insurance
Company from doing the same to their customers.
The California law required disclosure. PG&E spent over $40 million
in, what I think, was blatant, false advertising, and at the bottom of
each one of those ads, they had to read, ``Paid for by Pacific Gas &
Electric.'' Similarly, with Mercury Insurance Company, the public took
one look at those ads, which they saw repeatedly, and said, Oh, that's
who's behind it. Well, I'm a ``no'' vote.
Disclosure works, my Republican colleagues. It's what you wanted for
more than 20 years, and now that you're about to get it, you don't want
it. Well, I think not.
National Security and Dependence on Oil
Let me go to the subject at hand that we are to talk about this
evening,
[[Page H4579]]
which is really the issue of national security.
For more than 40 years now, America has talked about energy
independence, about literally breaking our addiction to oil. America is
addicted to oil. We consume more than 25 percent of all the world's oil
supply. Yet we have a very small portion of the reserves. We are
literally sending overseas $1 billion a day, with much of it going to
countries that are actively supporting people who don't agree with us
and people who are actually--well, perhaps--supporting terrorist
organizations. Certainly, our national security is dependent upon going
after the terrorists, and no one is going to do it more aggressively
than the Obama administration, which has increased the antiterrorist
activities of this Nation far more than during the Bush period--but
back to oil.
If we doubt for a moment that our Nation's security is at risk with
the current way in which we produce oil, you only need to take a look
at the Gulf of Mexico. In the last 20 years, there have been more than
38 blowouts, none of them as large as what we now see with the
Deepwater Horizon situation. Nonetheless, it is, in fact, a common
occurrence, which has averaged more than one and a half per year over
the last 20 years.
So is it safe?
Well, not so much. We just heard that saying from our Republican
colleagues that the moratorium imposed by the President is somehow
wrong. Hello? When two Air Force jets crashed within a month several
years ago, the United States Air Force did what it calls a ``stand-
down.'' They grounded the entire fleet until they found out what was
wrong. They corrected the problem and went on their way. That is
exactly what President Obama has done. He did a stand-down of
additional drilling in the Gulf of Mexico because, hey, there is a
problem. This is an extraordinary blowout, one that is now exceeding
everybody's estimate. The result: Oil on the beaches, dead birds and,
according to The Wall Street Journal today, hmm, ``Oil Spill Delivers
Recovery Setback.'' This is specifically looking at the real estate
industry along the gulf coast. They cite five or six projects here that
may be jeopardized because of the oil spill.
This is a national security issue in the sense of how we get our oil,
in the sense of our addiction to oil. It is time for us to recognize
that. Because we have, in the past, consumed all of the easy oil, we
are now going to the most difficult, the most dangerous, and the most
risky places in the world, certainly to the deep waters. The Deepwater
Horizon blowout is, perhaps, as much as 60,000 barrels a day. This is a
very serious problem, and it deserves our attention.
Last night, the President spoke to the problem and committed his
administration and this Nation to everything necessary to clean up and
to plug the well. My colleagues on the Republican side mentioned that,
just 37 days ago, they started the relief. That's not true. They
actually started the relief program on the very day of the blowout. It
took a while to get it going, and it is going to take even longer to
get it done.
So where are we going to go with this?
I've been joined by a couple of my colleagues today, and I would like
to ask my colleague from California, Congresswoman Judy Chu, to give us
her thoughts on this situation.
Ms. CHU. Thank you, Congressman Garamendi, and thank you for bringing
this very, very important order to the floor tonight.
I would like to focus for a moment on the oil spill and its impact on
the victims.
Kim Tran doesn't know how he will pay this month's car insurance, and
he has got no idea how he will take care of his mortgage, but what he
is most in the dark about is when he will be able to get back in the
water and start working again.
Kim is a deckhand on a commercial fishing boat which is stationed
near Buras, Louisiana, in Plaquemines Parish. He is part of a close-
knit community of Vietnamese and Cambodian shrimpers whom the gulf oil
spill has hit particularly hard. Many of them came to the gulf coast in
the 1980s as war refugees from Vietnam. They did well. It is estimated
that the Vietnamese Americans own between one-third and one-half of all
of the fishing vessels on the gulf coast.
After Katrina, they were one of the first groups to rebuild, but
figuring out how to recover from the recent manmade disaster has been
difficult. You see, for many of these fishermen, language is a barrier
as bottomless as the Deepwater Horizon's well. Because English isn't
essential for fishing, many have never learned it, so they rely on
interpreters to help them cross the language barrier. It takes 14 words
to translate the word ``dispersant'' into Vietnamese--and don't even
get me started on what to do with acronyms like ``EPA.''
So not only have these fishermen lost their normal sources of work,
but they have been locked out of the cleanup effort, too. Many have
even had problems filing basic claims for lost income. These Vietnamese
fishermen are just one group affected by the tragic gulf oil spill.
Indeed, this spill has devastated lives up and down the gulf coast. It
is the biggest environmental disaster in our Nation's history.
Yet Congress is working hard to repair the damage that has been done.
I've joined in the effort to secure $85 million in emergency funding to
assess and respond to damages from the oil spill. This money improves
the Federal response and guarantees compensation to out-of-work
fishermen, but we know that is not enough.
I am proud also to sponsor a very, very important bill on the
Judiciary Committee. This bill is called the SPILL Act. It fixes our
outdated liability laws, and it ensures that we can hold those who
caused this spill accountable for the damage that they have done, but
we know that's not enough either.
{time} 1800
So I've cosponsored the bill to impose a moratorium on new drilling
off the western coast of our country. The suspension is a great step
forward to ensuring that a disaster like this never happens again. And
even then, it's still not enough. Indeed, the only solution to this
disaster, the only thing that truly makes sense, is to finally end this
country's addiction to oil.
For decades, oil companies and lobbyists killed energy reform to keep
their profits. For decades, our dependence on oil has hurt our economy
and put the security of our country and our environment at risk. For
decades, we knew that offshore drilling was just a disaster waiting to
happen. Well, the news is that it has happened. And the Gulf oil spill
shows that it's time to take back control of our energy policies--with
clean power made right here in America.
We will never be able to undue this spill. As much as we wish it
didn't happen, we can't pretend it never did. If we do, Kim Tran's
worries about his car and house payments will only be afterthoughts
because his town of Buras, and countless others like it along the Gulf
Coast, will just disappear. But we will not let that happen.
Join me and make sure that these fishermen, these people, these
families haven't suffered in vain. And let's make sure we clean up this
spill, hold those who caused it accountable, and make sure it never
happens again. Together, we will end our addiction to oil and create a
better, cleaner future for our country.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Representative Chu, thank you very much for your
statement and also mentioning the end of new oil leases off the West
Coast. We call it the West Coast Ocean Protection Act. And it would
prohibit new leases off the West Coast of the United States. This is a
$32 billion a year industry along the West Coast--California, Oregon,
and Washington--that is dependent upon the pristine nature of that
coast. In addition to that, the West Coast has a much different
environment than the Gulf of Mexico. It's downright dangerous out
there. High waves, high wind, and earthquakes, and a lot of other
things that we'd say, Oh, that's not a good place to be drilling.
It's not enough to talk about the West Coast. I see my colleague from
New York here, and I know that he, too, along with the residents of New
York, are terribly interested in what is happening and in our natural
energy policies and our move away from oil.
Congressman Tonko, if you would, please join us.
Mr. TONKO. Representative Garamendi, thank you for bringing us
[[Page H4580]]
together in this very thoughtful way. It's great to join you and
Representative Chu and others who will be participating in this hour of
dialogue where we really look in a very laser-sharp, focused way at
this very tragic occurrence in the Gulf. Obviously, I think it's
important to recognize the commitment made by the President and his
administration to make certain that we do everything we can possible to
make certain that we stay on this case of cleanup and capping.
Certainly, shutting off that leak of that oil well is incredibly
important and the cleanup in that Gulf area that impacts the Gulf
States is absolutely essential. And to have the President recognize
that we have deployed some 30,000 workers that will be in the midst of
that activity, helping, is important; to know that over 5,000 vessels
have been solicited and that our National Guard numbers--over 17,500
forces--out there making a difference is important. But let's really
look at the some of the situation here.
I really get concerned and joined with some Members in this House to
advance correspondence to the BP CEO, stating very clearly with my
colleagues that their priorities spoke volumes as to where they rest as
a corporation. To have suggested that payments be made to investors as
a high priority, be established as a high priority; to suggest that
dollars going to marketing go to revamping their image, enhance their
image, while we sit there and look for ways to cap this leak, while we
continue to make certain that we need resources to clean up the Gulf,
that didn't seem to be a very high priority with this company. And so
it was, I think, very appropriate for us to respond in very forceful
measure to address this strong language in a letter to the
organization, to BP management, and state that what you really need to
do is re-prioritize to make certain that what comes as the most
important, essential bit of work here as you invest dollars--and they
best ought to--as you do that, the priority has got to be to cap that
leak, to clean up the Gulf, to make certain that we make whole the
individuals, the States, the communities that surround that given
region; to make certain that businesses are allowed to function again.
When we think of the impact on agriculture, on tourism, on the seafood
industry, to name a few, the impact on our ecosystem, on the
environment, on the wildlife, it is painful to watch the news accounts
of this continuing saga of a tragedy. And so their priorities were
misplaced and totally insensitive to the needs of people and industries
and certainly the wildlife in this given region.
I had stated clearly at a press conference where we aired this letter
that it was important for them to not be so concerned about their image
but rather deal with the basics. And I said, Before you shore up your
image, clean up our shores. I think it's straightforward and easily
understood. That's where I would like to see the priorities. And today,
after pressure from the President and many of us in Congress, I think
the company has heard the message. They have been given this forceful
statement, and they are now responding to the pressure by suggesting
they are setting up an account that will respond to some of these
needs. They are setting up an account that will deal with the
compensation fund for oil workers who are out of work because of the
catastrophe.
Now, one can only imagine what would have been the outcome, how much
less impacting the outcome would have been, if they had embraced the
same order of integrity when it came to the technology they should have
utilized with the drilling operation. You know, they asked to go 5,000
feet deeper. They want to drill a mile deeper. But the impact of the
damage, without the right technology and discipline and regulation,
meant hundreds of miles of spread. From that 1 mile deeper, hundreds of
miles of impact because of that lack of integrity.
And so I am here with you this evening in spirit and in voice to say
that we need to stay on this dilemma, we need to stay on this
catastrophe, until all of the essentials are done--the clean up, the
capping, the reforms that are essential--and making certain that the
dollars, the resources are coming from the source--the source of the
pollution here--in this case, BP.
So, thank you, Representative Garamendi, for bringing us together,
and it's great to join you and our colleagues here this evening.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Representative Tonko, thank you once again for being
both eloquent and right on the target of the issue that's out before
us. When you talk about the nature of the spill, this map is a recent
one from the US Geological Survey and NOAA--actually, NOAA. And if you
look at the size of that spill, it looks like it's getting about the
same size as Louisiana itself, and of course, the Gulf Coast along here
is seriously threatened and the extraordinary wildlife and habitat of
the Mississippi Delta is at risk and already seriously hurt by it.
You mentioned BP--and maybe, maybe, but I'm not convinced that BP has
actually gotten the message that their first task is to clean up. Their
$50 million PR campaign, I've seen some of the ads. If they had spent
that $50 million on the proper blowout protector and actually had put
in the most modern protection at the well head and not cut the corners,
as is becoming increasingly obvious, in the drilling techniques and in
securing the well itself, they wouldn't have to be spending multiple
billions of dollars cleaning up.
They absolutely must put that money into a trust fund. BP is not to
be trusted to adequately distribute that money to the people that have
been harmed. So the President is right. Create the trust fund. Put an
independent party in charge of it and let the money go to those that
have been seriously harmed by this, as well as the wildlife and the
damages there.
By the way, we really ought to pass a bill to increase the liability
limit. And I know that bill will be moving through here.
Joining us from--well, my neighbor in California, Congresswoman
Barbara Lee, who about 2 years ago, you experienced an oil spill on the
shores of your district.
Representative Lee, thank you for joining us.
Ms. LEE of California. Yes, Congressman Garamendi, we did experience
a devastating oil spill 3 years ago, and that's why many of us know
from personal experience and from a history of trying to find a way to
help our country become energy independent and end this addiction of
oil. We have worked on this issue for many, many years. So I am very
pleased that you've taken the lead in sponsoring a bill, which I am
proud to cosponsor, H.R. 5213, which would really create a ban, mind
you. We need more than moratorium. We need a ban on offshore oil and
natural gas drilling from platforms in Federal waters, particularly
near California, Oregon, and Washington, which your bill addresses. I
think what we have seen in the Gulf really explains why we're doing
this, first of all, on the West Coast, but this needs to be done
nationwide.
The fact is, offshore drilling poses too great a risk to our coastal
communities, economies, and our ecosytem. This has been made painfully
clear by the recent British Petroleum oil spill disaster in the Gulf of
Mexico. Every day, we have seen more and more damage to our Gulf Coast,
with really no end in sight. Over the course of weeks, estimates of the
damages have risen from, I think it was $14 billion, now to $34
billion. Who knows how many billion this is going to end up being. As
millions of gallons of oil flow into the Gulf each day, I can't imagine
what this will be like in a few months, let alone in the years to come.
Over 50,000 claims have been filed by small businesses for economic
losses and thousands more workers have lost their jobs. Every day, new
fishing areas are closed off, new coastline is contaminated, and more
communities are affected. BP must be held accountable, and they must
pay for this tragedy. The fragile ecosytem, which once sustained over
400 species of wildlife, are so ravaged that experts cannot even begin
to assess the damage. However, they all agree on this--that the long-
term health and environmental effects of this spill will plague the
region for generations to come. We cannot continue to put our economy
and our environment and the health of our children on the line. We must
stop the drilling.
Just a few decades ago, California experienced a similar spill. That
oil spill was so toxic and ruinous that it led to the creation of the
Environmental Protection Agency and the declaration of
[[Page H4581]]
the first Earth day by the Santa Barbara City Council. We understand
just how devastating these chemicals can be both to our Nation's
ecosytem and to our economy. It's time we start making decisions for
our future. This is a terrible, tragic wake-up call. We cannot continue
to endanger our natural treasures or economic prosperity for a paltry
reward in the form of a decade or so of oil and natural gas protection.
The Deepwater Horizon explosion was really not an isolated incident.
According to the Minerals Management Service, there were 38 blowouts,
mind you--38--in the Gulf of Mexico between 1992 and 2006. Just
yesterday, the CEO of ExxonMobil admitted that when spills happen, we
are, ``not well-equipped to handle them.'' I don't know what they do
with the billions of profits that they make. But if we aren't prepared,
then we really shouldn't be drilling.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy behind the BP oil spill disaster is that
it really did not need to happen. Today, we have the power to learn
from history and to chart a new path. In order to safeguard the natural
beauty, wildlife, and ocean-based economies of California, Oregon, and
Washington, Congressman Garamendi's bill really does set the standard.
We've got to move forward with a permanent moratorium or permanent ban
on offshore oil drilling in Federal waters off the West Coast.
The environmental disaster that we're witnessing in the Gulf is a
symptom of a much larger problem; that is our perilous dependency, as I
said earlier, on, really, dirty fossil fuels. We must work to end that
addiction today or really risk sacrificing our environment for the
future. The best and most responsible way forward is one in which our
coastlines remain free of offshore oil and gas drilling and our demand
for fossil fuels is diminished through the use of renewable energy
sources and the deployment of energy-efficient technologies.
It's time to take a stand, and it's time to declare that enough is
enough. We must be committed to a cleaner, greener future--and that
future starts with putting and end to offshore drilling. I think the
President is right on point. I think we need to move forward and
support Congressman Garamendi's bill. And we need to really recognize
that the horrific tragedy that we're seeing today is really a sign of
what could happen tomorrow, and use this as a defining moment to
regroup and to become clearer about our future in terms of our energy
independence.
Thank you, again, Congressman Garamendi, for your leadership.
{time} 1815
Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you very much, Representative Lee. And thank you
for all the work you did dealing with that problem in the San Francisco
Bay when the ship hit the bridge. We had our own little spill over
there.
I had pulled this placard up with the pictures of the oil and the
birds. And I didn't realize until you started talking about the
escalation and the estimate of the amount of oil that spilled--my staff
put this together actually about 4 weeks ago--and they said by Father's
Day it would be the worst spill ever. At 60,000 barrels, it was
actually the worst spill after about the first 3 weeks. So in any case,
we have got a real serious problem there.
I notice that I have fortunately been joined by three Representatives
from a wide, diverse part of America. From the west coast, in the great
metropolitan area of Los Angeles, Congresswoman Watson, if you would
care to join us.
Ms. WATSON. Yes. I want to thank you, Congressman Garamendi, for your
leadership. As a Californian, I am so proud of the leadership you are
taking here. Former Lieutenant Governor, you know our State so well,
and your charts are depicting the problems that not only the gulf coast
has, but we've had our disasters as well. And I just want the public to
understand our commitment.
From day one, the Obama administration has been committed to
containing the damage from the BP oil spill and extending to the people
of the gulf the help they need to confront what is the worst
environmental disaster America has ever faced, and we will continue to
fight this spill with everything we have for as long as it takes. That
is a commitment that is made from the top and all the way through every
level of government. We will make BP pay for the damage that their
company has caused our country, and we will do whatever is necessary to
help the gulf coast and its people recover from this massive tragedy.
This has already been the largest environmental cleanup effort in our
country's history. We now have nearly 30,000 personnel who are working
across four States to contain and clean up the oil, thousands of ships
and other vessels are responding in the gulf, and the President has
authorized a deployment of over 17,000 National Guard members along the
coast. And because of these response efforts, millions of gallons of
oil have already been removed from the water through burning, skimming
and other collection methods. Over 5.5 million feet of boom have been
laid across the water to block and absorb the approaching oil. We have
approved the construction of new barrier islands in Louisiana to try to
stop the oil before it reaches the shore. We're working with the
affected States to implement creative approaches to their unique
coastlines, and we will offer whatever additional resources and
assistance they may need.
Now the President is meeting and has met with the chairman of BP and
will inform him--and has--that he is to set aside whatever resources
are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have
been harmed as a result of his company's recklessness. This fund will
not be controlled by BP, but instead by an independent third party in
order to ensure all legitimate claims are paid out in a fair and timely
manner.
But we also need to be committed to a long-term plan for restoration
that goes beyond responding to the crisis of the moment. So the
President has asked the Secretary of the Navy and former Mississippi
Governor Ray Mabus to develop a long-term gulf coast restoration plan
as soon as possible. And the plan will be designed by States, local
communities, tribes, fishermen, businesses, conversationalists, and
other gulf residents. And BP will pay for the impact this spill has had
on the region.
We also are taking steps to ensure a disaster like this does not
happen again, and that's why the President has established a national
commission to understand the causes of this disaster and offer
recommendations on what additional safety and environmental standards
need to be put in place. The President has issued a 6-month moratorium
on the deepwater drilling. He is mindful that this creates difficulty
for the people who work on these rigs, but for the sake of their safety
and for the sake of the entire region, we need to know the facts before
we allow deepwater drilling to continue.
And while the President urges the commission to complete its work as
quickly as possible, he expects them to do that work thoroughly and
impartially. We have already begun to take action at the Minerals
Management Service to ensure more effective oversight and end the close
relationship between oil companies and the agency that regulates them.
The President has asked Michael Bromwich, a former Federal prosecutor
and inspector general, to lead this effort and to build an organization
that acts as the oil industry's watchdog, not its partner.
So we must look towards the future, Mr. Garamendi. We must look at
our energy future, and we must get off this addiction to oil. You know,
the globe is speaking to us. We've gone too deep this time. And at the
core of this Earth there is a lot of static and volatile motion, and
we're seeing it bubble up. And when we look around this globe, and we
see the volcano explosion in Iceland that grounded planes for weeks,
when we look at the earthquake down in Haiti, and we see other effects
on the globe natural, we're getting the message.
So we must take action to look at our planet, to notice the
environmental tragedies that really underscore the need for this Nation
to embrace a clean-energy future. I look forward to having
conversations on this floor with all of my colleagues. And with you
leading those conversations, we will make plans that will sustain a
future for those yet unborn, and that is the purpose of looking towards
new energy sources that don't violate the surface of our planet or go
down so deep
[[Page H4582]]
they disturb the powers underground. I thank you so very much.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you so very much for your eloquent comments on
what has happened, what we must do.
I notice that sitting next to you is a Representative from the other
side of the American continent, Representative Moran from the
Commonwealth of Virginia.
Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Garamendi, thank you for having this
Special Order. We in Virginia--not all of us, but many of us--watch
with sadness at what happened to the California shores, and we don't
want it repeated in Virginia. Even though the Governor and the
Republican Party have pushed and pushed with these silly mantras,
Drill, baby, drill, and Drill here, and drill everywhere, we're not
going to let it happen. If we had not been diligent, we might have some
drilling rigs off the shore of Virginia today, but we don't. And
they're not going to go there until there is substantial modification
of the industry practices with regard to offshore drilling.
Let's bear in mind that what we are talking about is our Nation's
oil. It's not oil that's owned by these oil companies or by the private
sector. It's owned by us, the taxpayer. It's public land. It's owned by
our children and our grandchildren. And instead of being put to our
benefit and their benefit, because of neglect, carelessness,
irresponsible decisions, it is destroying the ecology of the gulf and
could well destroy the ecology of the Everglades along the Florida
shore, and could even go up the east coast. We have no idea how
extensive this damage is going to be, nor how expensive it will be to
clean it up. But we're now getting an idea of why it happened.
And I would say to the gentleman and to the Speaker that we ought to
be mindful, first of all, that this was not under President Obama's
watch. It was not under any kind of Democratic policy. It was under the
administration of a President who owned an oil drilling company, an oil
exploration company, a Vice President who was the CEO of Halliburton,
who made money from manufacturing and installing drilling rigs--in
fact, continued to own thousands of shares of Halliburton while they
made enormous profits not only from drilling rigs but from the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan. So while these two folks sit back, the damage is
being inflicted upon people who bore no fault but, in fact, became
dependent upon this industry. And our hearts go out not just to those
who lost their lives but to those who have lost their livelihoods.
Now, when we trace back how this particular drilling rig exploded, we
find that there were a number of points along the way where it could
have been avoided. Back in 2003, the Interior Department--the Bush
administration's Interior Department--agreed with BP and other oil
companies that installing a $500,000 acoustical shutoff switch on every
offshore rig would be unreasonably expensive, even though such a
shutoff switch would have prevented all of this oil from spewing out.
Now it's costing BP billions of dollars. It's costing our country
billions of dollars in tourism, to the fishing industry, and it's
costing the lives of thousands and thousands of people because they cut
corners. They weren't even willing to spend $500,000--a half million
dollars on a shutoff switch.
And then they feel badly. They think they are being beaten up on by
the Congress. Well, let me share some of the reasons why they've lost
their credibility. For one, they started out telling us that it was
about 1,000 barrels a day that were leaking. I think the gentleman will
remember that. Of course there are 42 gallons in a barrel, which would
mean that every day, about 200,000 gallons of oil were being emitted.
Well, it wasn't 1,000. Then they went up to 5,000, which means that--
well, with 5,000 instead of 42,000 gallons of oil a day, it was
210,000. But the 5,000, even though the scientists at the Minerals
Management Service say, We think it's much larger than this, the
scientists continued to be ignored. And now we find that every second,
18 gallons of oil is being emitted from this spill.
Now, think about that. Most of us, to fill our tank, the gas tank in
our car, it takes about 18 gallons. All of that is going out into the
gulf every second, which means that we've got more than 1,000 a minute.
We've got 65,000 gallons an hour, and we have 1.6 million gallons every
day. It's hard for the mind to comprehend that, but 1.6 million gallons
of oil is coming out into the gulf every day. And this has gone on for,
what, 50 days.
Now, what has to happen in the future is there needs to be a time-
out. No more deepwater drilling until, number one, we have the
technology on hand. The Minerals Management Service has been assured
that this cannot happen again.
{time} 1830
We had a 30-day open window when they had the ability to determine
whether permits should be issued. Under the Bush administration, it was
automatic. They didn't take any of that time.
But in the future, we need trained personnel. We need tested
equipment. We need all of the technology to be on hand. And all of that
research that should have been done, it needs to be paid for by the oil
companies. The taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for that research. The
taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for the training. And the taxpayers,
obviously, shouldn't pay for the equipment. All of it needs to be
tested because it is the taxpayers' oil. It is the taxpayers' land, and
it has been exploited and a lot of people have made billions of dollars
by drilling off our land, drilling the oil that really belongs to our
children and grandchildren.
Well, it is time to put a stop to this. As far as I am concerned,
there should be a moratorium until we can assure the American public
and our children and grandchildren that this can't happen again because
the government is going to be the sheriff in the future. The Obama
administration is going to put in the people that care about our
environment that are going to regulate this oil drilling and are going
to ensure that this kind of catastrophe never happens again because we
are not going to show the kind of negligence and greed that drove this
situation to occur.
So I thank you, Mr. Garamendi. Again, let me conclude by ending where
I started, that we feel bad for what happened to California. We feel
worse for what is now the worst ecological disaster in the gulf, but we
have to make sure that we learn from this and we never, ever let
something like this happen again.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Moran, how correct you are: never let this happen
again. It is not just drill, baby, drill. What we have seen is spill,
baby, spill. There have been 38 blowouts in the gulf between 1992 until
2009. You used the words irresponsible actions, corners being cut, and
decisions being made that led to this blowout. You mentioned the
$500,000 that could have been spent and should have been spent on an
acoustical switch.
I was talking to one of our colleagues here who was a former Federal
prosecutor, and the colleague said to me, if there is evidence that two
of the BP executives worked together to circumvent a law or regulation,
it may very well be criminal conspiracy. To that end, the Obama Justice
Department has initiated a criminal probe of BP's actions with regard
to this spill. We know that this is not the first time BP has been
involved in a serious accident that has cost lives: 11 at this drilling
rig; at their refinery in Texas, another large number of employees were
both injured and killed. It is time for this industry to get its act
together.
I know that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko) has been involved
in this for very long. If you would pick this up and carry us for a
little while.
Mr. TONKO. Representative Garamendi, listening to Representative
Moran from Virginia reminds us of the investment in technology that
should accompany this situation. There should have been the checks and
balances, and there should have been the investment; as he suggested, a
drop-in-the-bucket investment compared to the damages now associated
with this catastrophe. I know the people I represent in the 21st
Congressional District watch with sadness as they see the news accounts
that show us the day-to-day responses with regard to this disaster.
We have heard a lot of talk about alternatives and technology that
needs
[[Page H4583]]
to be embraced to carry us into a clean energy economy. My region in
the capital region of New York State is ripe with that sort of
opportunity. It is investing in high-tech opportunities for clean
energy jobs, in innovation, energy intellect, energy ideas, energy
technology that will enable us to move forward with a progressive
agenda.
The fact that we have been held back by slogans and mantras such as
``drill, baby, drill'' have held back the progress. Even the likes of
T. Boone Pickens has said we can't drill our way out of the energy
crises of this country or the world. We need to embrace that new
technology. We need to bring about the type of jobs that will allow for
a clean energy economy to take hold, and to make certain that we invest
in those subsidies that will take us into renewables like utilizing our
sun and our wind and our soil and our water to create and respond to
the energy generation that we require. I think that is so very
important.
Mr. GARAMENDI. If I might interrupt you for a second, well, maybe
more than a second.
We prepared a little diagram here, and let's consider this a quiz for
the American public.
Which of these energy sources gets the most Federal subsidies? Would
it be solar, maybe the algae, the new technologies of algae-producing
fuel? How about wave action? Or maybe it is wind? Or maybe it is the
oil industry? Which ones?
Mr. TONKO. I think we are going to have a sad answer there.
Mr. GARAMENDI. I am going to let people ponder that for a few minutes
while I turn to the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) who has been a
champion of protecting the ocean for many, many years.
Mr. FARR. Thank you, Congressman Garamendi. It was such a pleasure
serving with you in the California legislature when we adopted a lot of
legislation dealing with handling oil.
Tonight I would like to share with you essentially a tale of two
States, States that are both oil-producing States, States that both
have offshore oil drilling, and those two States are California and
Louisiana.
Mr. Speaker, the comparison here is one that essentially I really
want to ask Governor Jindal: Ask not what the Federal Government can do
for Louisiana, but what Louisiana should be doing for its own
constituency, as California has done for its constituency, knowing that
we have an oil economy, somewhat of an oil economy in the State, and
certainly an offshore oil economy.
The comparison is this. Both States have an oil response. California
has a strong law on oil response. Louisiana has a very weak law on oil
response. Why? That is something that Louisiana ought to correct. The
California statute has stations throughout California, places to clean
up wildlife. It is paid for, it is implemented. It is essentially
large, wildlife veterinary hospitals. The one in my district, you could
even bring a small whale in there and operate on it. Louisiana has no
such network, no such program, and no such allocation of resources.
Another big disability, big difference between the two, liability
caps. Louisiana has a cap on liability. California has no cap on
damages. Louisiana has a cap on damages. When you and I and our
colleague, Jackie Speier, who has joined us here, were all members of
the State legislature, I authored legislation that you sponsored to put
a strict liability on oil spills in California, a remarkable law. There
is strict liability that has no cap on damages under State law.
Louisiana, being a friend of the oil companies, puts caps on damages.
They are not asking for that cap right now, they are asking it to be
raised.
The big difference number three between California and Louisiana,
both offshore oil drilling States, is civil and criminal penalties.
California sets up involved civil and criminal penalties, a whole
section of law. Louisiana has no civil or criminal penalties.
Louisiana, come on. If you are going to cry now where is the Federal
Government when you have a problem, why haven't you risen to the
occasion? California has had that law in place since 1990. Your law was
enacted in 1991 with no teeth. It is about time you took responsibility
for putting some teeth into your State law.
Lastly, what both States have is a Coastal Zone Management Act
created by the Federal Government. There is a nifty provision in that
act. It is called consistency provision. What that means is the State
can review any proposal to do offshore oil drilling, whether it is in
Federal waters or State waters. And as long as you have an adopted plan
and that plan can explain why you should condition that oil drilling,
or even deny that oil drilling in Federal waters, you have the power at
the State level to do that. We in California have used that power and
prevented the Federal Government from expanding its offshore oil
drilling.
We are going further now with the bill that Mr. Garamendi has because
we realize that drilling for oil off coast is high risk and low gain.
You really don't get a lot out of it. And the risk we can see in spades
from what is happening in the gulf right now.
So Louisiana, don't cry for what the Federal Government is not doing,
cry for yourself as to what you are not doing to help your own
constituency, put teeth in the laws that would allow you to deny those
offshore oil drilling rigs, to put conditions on those offshore oil
drilling rigs, to allow you to have the money to clean up the mess and
help the wildlife, to put teeth in the penalties and to raise those
caps. So we want to see our coastal States have a strong law. And most
of all, we think if you really look at it, we shouldn't be drilling
offshore at all.
Lastly, I want to change the issue because one of it is about money.
There is money that comes into the Federal Treasury from offshore oil
drilling. It produces $23.2 billion; $23.2 billion. Out of that,
Congress has authorized the expenditure of about $5 billion in five
programs: American Indian tribes get some of that money; historic
preservation gets some of that money; lands and water conservation fund
which is essentially land more than water, it is on land not offshore,
get some of that money; the reclamation fund gets some of the money;
and there are two funds that go back to the States.
But out of the $23 billion fund, $5 billion, less than 20 percent, is
spent. Where does the rest of it go, into the United States Treasury.
And guess what, all of that money made from offshore oil drilling and
not a penny spent on the ocean. We have a big source of income that the
United States Government can use to start with renewable resources,
start investing in the oceans, and create an ocean fund and ocean
governance plan so it isn't chaos at sea, it is a planned, organized,
smart way to use the ocean, just like we have learned smart ways to use
the land.
I commend you on your bill and on your work, and thank you for
inviting me to be here tonight.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Congressman Farr, thank you very much.
I am going to go back and answer the question about where did the
Federal subsidies go in just a moment, but I see our colleague,
Representative Jackie Speier, arrived with the next generation that is
going to have to live with our decisions that we are making right now
with regard to climate change and the extraordinary consumption of
carbon-based fuels.
Ms. SPEIER. Thank you, Congressman Garamendi, and thank you for your
leadership in this area and for recognizing the next generation.
Marianne Larson will be part of that next generation that is going to
be asking the question: Did we do enough?
The question I have tonight that I would like to pose is when will we
see enough damage to say enough is enough. How many oil spills do we
need before we take decisive action to end our dependence on fossil
fuels?
Just last week, probably not heard because we have been focused on
the BP oil spill, but last week we saw yet another spill in Salt Lake
City, Utah. Any oil spill is one too many, and the era of our planet
being constantly contaminated by crude oil must come to an end.
The preventable accident in the gulf claimed 11 lives, tragically,
and is now the worst environmental disaster in this country's history,
and the biggest environmental cleanup that we have ever undertaken. It
serves as a terrible reminder of our country's dangerous dependence on
foreign oil. As long as we remain addicted to that oil, foreign and
domestic, spills are inevitable. The question we have to ask ourselves:
How
[[Page H4584]]
many more do we want to somehow live with? Live with the damage to our
ecosystem, live with the damage to the people that are afflicted by it,
the jobs that are lost, the tourism that is lost. They have been with
us for over a century, these oil spills, and they will be with us for
centuries more unless we break that addiction to oil.
{time} 1845
We must replace oil in our energy supply with clean fuel. And it's
right here. We have it. We know what it is. You pointed to some of them
in that chart. And the stunning figure that I just heard that I would
like to share with you tonight, Mr. Garamendi, is that, by just
retrofitting 75,000 homes in this country, we would save the equivalent
of all the oil that has spewed into the gulf by BP. Just retrofitting
75,000 homes.
Now, we have passed in this House legislation, the Home Star bill,
which will spur the retrofitting of 3.3 million homes and create over
600,000 jobs. The energy saved from these retrofits, if the Senate
passes that measure, would save more than 44 times the wasted energy
floating in the gulf and would do so at one-fortieth of the cost.
Mr. GARAMENDI. You know, that's really, really interesting. And if I
recall the vote, when that was on the floor, the Republicans voted
against that. They didn't vote for one of the most important
conservation programs we have that not only would save all that energy,
but help each homeowner's utility bill. Go figure.
You mentioned this. We've got to go back here because I've got to
answer this question. Please help me with this. Who gets the most
subsidies; solar, algae, wave, wind, or oil?
Ms. SPEIER. The answer is?
Mr. GARAMENDI. The answer is oil. If you take a look, 2002 to 2008,
where did the subsidies go? Well, the oil industry got over $70 billion
of taxpayer money in direct tax subsidies, $72 billion. The green
renewable energy got $12.2 billion over that same period of time, 2002
to 2008. And in addition to that, the ethanol industry got $16.8
billion.
So we really, if we took this money, this subsidy, $70 billion over a
6-year period and shifted it over to this side, particularly up here to
the renewable energy--this is solar, wind, advanced biofuels like algae
and the rest--where would we be? Where would that young lady's future
be? Renewable energy of all kinds. You shift the subsidies around.
Is that possible? Can we do that? What do you think?
Ms. SPEIER. Of course we can do it. It's all about whether we have
the will. We can even allow Big Oil to continue to have some little
subsidies, or equalize the subsidies that we are providing there and
take that other money, take $6 billion, retrofit 3.3 million homes in
this country, create hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of jobs, and
we would be better off.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Duh. Why didn't the Republicans vote for that? It
makes eminent sense.
Ms. SPEIER. Well, it's the same reason that they sat in this Chamber
a year-and-a-half ago and chanted over and over again, ``Drill, baby,
drill.'' It was like a high school football field. And they couldn't
say it loud enough or long enough or repeat it often enough.
Mr. GARAMENDI. I wasn't here at that time. I got a special election
last November. You are telling me that it was just less than a year
ago?
Ms. SPEIER. About 18 months ago.
Mr. GARAMENDI. About 18 months ago they sat here and they said,
``Drill, baby, drill''? I heard the same thing tonight. They said, End
the moratorium on deepwater drilling. Drill. And I am going, You want
another oil spill? Thirty-eight in the last 18 years in the gulf plus
this big one. That's not the solution.
The solution lies in moving to a new energy source, the green
technologies, the renewable energy, so that it is the sun that gives us
the power in the future so that that young lady doesn't have to face
the extraordinary impact that climate change will bring. We have to
move away from carbon-based fuels.
Would you agree with that?
Ms. SPEIER. Oh, I absolutely agree with that. And I think that we
have got to just face some very fundamental facts. If you continue to
drill at 18,000 feet, you are asking for trouble.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Let's see, that fellow Murphy was right. Everything
that can go wrong will go wrong. And BP didn't plan for what could go
wrong. In fact, they ignored it. They put together an application that
just ignored the possibility of the worst case. In situations like
this, we must force the industry to assume the worst case will happen.
We have seen it. No more.
Mr. Speaker, thank you so much for the time. I yield back.
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