[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 113 (Thursday, July 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    KEEPING A LONG-TERM FOCUS ON THE OIL SPILL RESPONSE AND RECOVERY

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                          HON. C.W. BILL YOUNG

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 29, 2010

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Speaker, 101 days have passed, and the 
devastating impact of the BP Deepwater Horizon catastrophe continues to 
grow daily. As we continue to consider specific legislation in the 
House to address the problems we have identified that led to this 
unmitigated disaster, I rise today to express my concern over the 
environmental impact on the Gulf of Mexico and express my support for 
all the impacted residents, who deserve better from the federal 
government.
  Our immediate focus is not only on ensuring that the flow of oil from 
the Deepwater Horizon spill continues to be stopped, but also on 
addressing the future environmental and economic effects of the spill. 
The House has already unanimously passed legislation to fund oil 
pollution research and we must continue to support the important work 
in this area being done throughout the United States. One of the 
centers for this research is in St. Petersburg, which I have the 
privilege to represent. The College of Marine Science at the University 
of South Florida has become an international center for the study of 
our nation's and our world's waters and of our coastal lands. Together 
with the Florida Institute of Oceanography, also in St. Petersburg, 
which is drawing together all the state of Florida's marine research 
expertise, and a variety of other local, state and federal 
organizations, our community has provided key information to our 
nation's decision makers about the movement of the oil, the impact it 
is having on our environment and the development of long-term 
strategies to clean it up. Even with all of this work in St. Petersburg 
and throughout our state, the long-term effects of the oil spill 
itself, as well as those of the response and clean-up efforts, are 
still unclear and continued monitoring of the Gulf will ensure that we 
are prepared to quickly respond to the future consequences of this 
spill.
  Further, we must draw on our knowledge and experience to ensure that 
this disaster is never repeated. In representing the Tampa Bay area, 
which has been at the center of some previous disasters, I have 
experience in responding to these crises. While serving as a Florida 
State Senator in 1970, the tanker Delian Apollon spilled more than 
20,000 gallons of crude oil into Tampa Bay. In response, I introduced 
and the legislature quickly passed my landmark legislation to set in 
place emergency response plans for oil spills in the waterways 
surrounding Florida. The oil and shipping industry challenged my 
legislation, which was called our nation's toughest oil spill response 
law, all the way to the United States Supreme Court, where it was 
upheld in a unanimous decision.
  When the oil industry proposed drilling off the Gulf coast of 
Florida, I offered an amendment to a 1983 supplemental appropriations 
bill to create the first buffer zone to protect Florida's west coast 
from offshore oil drilling. Because my amendment was carried on an 
appropriations bill, I had to negotiate with my colleagues to protect 
it year after year, sometimes fighting off challenges from my own party 
and leadership. We finally were able to negotiate more permanent 
protection against drilling in 2006 when we wrote into law a buffer 
zone that extends 234 miles off the coast of the Pinellas County 
beaches I represent.
  In an effort to respond to the lessons learned from this year's 
disaster, I introduced the SAFEGUARDS Act earlier this month, which 
provides some commonsense solutions to prevent and respond to future 
disastrous oil spills. Drafted following a series of meetings and 
regular phone calls with the on-the-ground incident commanders, local 
research teams and community emergency response personnel, it is my 
hope that the solutions put forth in this measure will be included in 
the wider legislative response that we consider later this year to 
ensure that we impose rigorous safety standards on any off-shore 
platforms, while also establishing a fully thought out plan to respond 
to future disasters. We can and must do better. We cannot allow any 
more waivers of safety standards or response plans, and the SAFEGUARDS 
Act ensures that.
  Our work on oil spill response legislation is just the beginning, and 
we have much more work to do in the coming weeks, months and years. The 
future environmental health and economic viability of the Gulf of 
Mexico depends on us, and we must do all we can to respond to the 
largest spill in United States history. We owe the American people and 
the entire Gulf Coast a comprehensive response that addresses both the 
causes and effects of this spill. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues 
to work together to ensure the complete recovery of the Gulf of Mexico, 
while also addressing the systematic breakdowns which led to the BP 
Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.

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