[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 55 (Thursday, April 14, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2534-S2536]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself and Mr. Vitter):
  S. 861. A bill to restore the natural resources, ecosystems, 
fisheries, marine habitats, and coastal wetland of Gulf Coast States, 
to create jobs and revive the economic health of communities adversely 
affected by the explosion on, and sinking of, the mobile offshore 
drilling unit Deepwater Horizon, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Environment and Public Works.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I am going to speak for 2 or 3 minutes 
in a brief introduction, and then turn it over to my colleague from 
Louisiana. We are both very excited and enthusiastic to present to the 
Senate and to Congress work that has been underway for almost a year.
  As you know, next week on April 20, we will be marking the 1-year 
anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, which killed 11 men--
they are still in our thoughts and prayers, and their families to this 
day--injured dozens of others and shocked millions with the explosion 
that occurred a year ago next Wednesday.
  There are many steps our Nation has to take and must take to respond 
to that horrific incident. Senator Vitter and I are on the floor today 
to introduce the Restore the Gulf Coast Act of 2011, which we believe 
is one of the most important things that needs to be done in response 
to this incident.
  It was frankly long overdue even before this tragedy happened, and I 
will briefly explain. This gulf coast is a very important coast of 
America.
  I know all of the people of our coasts believe they are all 
important--but we who live on the gulf coast are particularly proud of 
the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida 
because on this coast not only do we have port and maritime activities, 
which is true of every coast, we also support the Nation in hosting a 
very important domestic oil and gas industry, which is primarily 
offshore, but a great deal on shore, both close and on our marshes.
  In addition, we have a very vibrant and robust fishing industry, both 
commercial and recreational. We have ecotourism and migratory bird 
routes from the south going north. Obviously this is a flyway for 
migratory birds and extremely important to wildlife enthusiasts and 
hunters and fishermen. May I also add--and not let us forget--the 
tourism industry. So we say proudly in the gulf coast, we are America's 
working coast. We seek a balance between mining and exploring for and 
using our natural resources, and balancing that so this coast can be 
sustainable.
  This is a great opportunity for the Nation to do right by the gulf 
coast. It is a great opportunity for the polluters to step up and do 
the right thing. It is a great opportunity to give a break to taxpayers 
because the bill Senator Vitter and I are putting forward--and we hope 
our other colleagues will join us in--will basically say the fine BP is 
going to pay--and maybe other contractors as well--that 80 percent of 
that fine should go to the area where the injury occurred.
  I am going to take the next minute to put up this horrifying picture 
that people will remember because a year ago this is what the site 
looked like when the Deepwater Horizon exploded and 5 million barrels 
of oil escaped from this tragedy and marred the beaches and marshes and 
ocean, and we are still recovering, and will for years.
  But because of the 5 million barrels of oil that were spilled, this 
polluter, BP, and its contractors are going to have to pay a very 
serious fine to the Federal Government. We believe that fine is best 
directed to help the environment which was injured and to get the 
taxpayers off the hook and put the polluters on the hook for picking up 
this tab, and to do so in a way that is fair to the Gulf Coast States. 
That is what Senator Vitter will speak about in more detail.
  Let me show you one picture, happily. Today, the beaches along the 
gulf coast--in large measure--look like this, as shown in this picture. 
This is the way they normally look. Because not only do we drill for 
oil and gas off of our waters, but our children swim in this water. We 
recreate and have picnics along the beach. This is the way we would 
like this beach to look for decades to come.
  If we are successful in getting our bill passed through the Congress 
and signed by the President in the near future, this is possible, along 
with pictures like this one I show you, which represents a great and 
proud industry: the shrimping industry on the gulf coast, which 
supplies fresh seafood for restaurants all over our Nation and, in some 
cases, the world.
  So at this point, let me turn it to Senator Vitter for some more 
detail. I want to say, it has been a pleasure and I thank the Senator 
for his support. We want this to be a bipartisan effort. Both the 
industry and environmental groups are very interested in working with 
us on this issue. We think it is the right policy for our country.
  I yield to Senator Vitter.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I am proud to join my colleague Senator 
Landrieu in introducing today this RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act of 2011. 
I want to also thank her and compliment her on her leadership on this 
issue. Senator Landrieu has been developing this legislation tirelessly 
since the tragedy, working with many others who will soon be 
cosponsors, we hope, in this effort.
  I also want to recognize Congressman Steve Scalise and his Louisiana 
House colleagues for having similar legislation in the House.
  As we near this 1-year anniversary of the disaster, first we need to 
remember the victims, the human victims--the 11 people who lost their 
lives and their families. Those families still have a huge hole in 
their lives, and we need to continue to remember them and pray for 
them.
  But we also need to help restore the affected area. A lot of other 
lives were impacted through the environmental and economic devastation. 
We need to work on that as well.
  This RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act of 2011 would go a long way in 
restoring those lives, in healing those impacts. This was a horrible 
tragedy, and, of course, the physical, the environmental damage was 
borne by these five Gulf Coast States. Therefore, we think it is more 
than fair that 80 percent of the fines directly related to this event--
which would not have been incurred, would not be in existence but for 
this tragedy--be dedicated to restoration along the gulf coast.
  Senator Landrieu, with my support, and others, has worked out a very 
fair formula to impact all of the Gulf Coast States in a positive way. 
We think it is more than fair because it assures some minimum funding 
to all of the affected States and then has another pot of money that is 
specifically focused on direct impacts. We think this is a very fair 
way to go about it. It also dovetails with the work that has been going 
on in the States and federally through the President's commission on 
impacts.
  So we think this would be an excellent way to approach it. It is more 
than fair to the Federal Government and to the Federal taxpayer because 
the money retained that is still flowing to the Federal Treasury more 
than covers all the expenses of the Federal Government related to this 
event. It goes well beyond those direct expenses.
  Again, I thank my colleague for her leadership, and I ask all of our 
colleagues to come together around this effort. This concept has been 
explicitly endorsed by President Obama. This concept has been 
explicitly endorsed by the President's commission on the oilspill. All 
of those folks have absolutely said, yes, 80 percent of these Clean 
Water Act fines need to stay on the gulf coast for much-needed 
restoration. This legislation will get that done in a fair, 
straightforward way. I urge all of my colleagues to support it and help 
pass it in the next few weeks and months.
  Mr. President, with that, I turn the floor back to my colleague from 
Louisiana.

[[Page S2535]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I see other colleagues on the floor 
waiting to speak so I will try to wrap up these remarks in about 5 
minutes. But I do want to add a few things and thank my colleague 
again. He is on the committee that will take this bill into 
consideration. That committee is chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer. I 
want to thank her, our colleague from California, the Chair of the EPW 
Committee, and her staff, who have been working with us very closely 
over the last year as we fashioned this approach. I think the Senator, 
of course, will speak for herself, but I think it is in her philosophy 
that the polluters should pay, not the taxpayer, and that the area that 
was injured should be the area that receives the response. It is 
important that the environment that was injured should be first 
attended to first. That is the essence and nature of our bill.
  But to put a couple of other things in the Record, Senator Vitter 
mentioned this, but it is worth repeating. President Obama has already 
endorsed this general concept, and I want to thank him for his early 
leadership on this issue. I had some real reservations early on about 
the national oilspill commission. I honestly did not think there were 
enough people representing the industry perspective, only the 
environmental perspective. But I was happy to see that commission 
report came out fairly balanced. Both Bob Graham, who is a former 
colleague of ours from Florida, and Bill Reilly, the former EPA 
Director under President Bush, came to the same conclusion: that one of 
the best ways to spend this fine money would be restoring this very 
important coastal area. This should not just be for the gulf coast but 
for the Nation. Frankly, the world should take notice and to try to 
find a path forward for coastal communities to have sustainable 
economies.
  This is an important question, not just for the gulf coast, not just 
for the east coast, not just for the west coast, but I might say, this 
might be one of the great questions in the world today. 60 percent or 
more of the population of the world lives near coastlines. The question 
of how can people live there productively, safely, and how the 
environment can sustain them in that growth and development is an 
important question to get answers to.
  Let me say, as a resident of the gulf coast, we do not have enough 
answers. We do not have enough money to ask questions. That is what 
this money will go for: some science and technology, some basic 
research, and, most importantly, some money to restore our coast--to do 
the right things by this environment.
  I want to recognize the entities that support this cause. Secretary 
Ray Mabus, the Secretary of the Navy added to his portfolio to examine 
this issue, and he, too, arrived at the same conclusion: that a very 
excellent and smart way to spend some of these fine moneys would be on 
these programs.
  Just a couple of minutes more to put some facts into the Record; and 
other Senators from other States--Florida, Texas, Mississippi, and 
Alabama--can enter their own data.
  I think it is important for people to understand, when we talk about 
the coast of Louisiana, just the coast of Louisiana--this is going to 
be hard for people to believe, but it is actually true--if you count 
the tidal miles of Louisiana, which is about 7,000 tidal miles from the 
tip here, as shown on this map, all the way over to Texas from our 
Mississippi border--7,000 tidal miles--if you stretch that out, it is 
the same as going from Miami to Seattle. I need people to get that in 
their mind.
  I know this looks like a little shore because it is not a big shore 
like California or Florida. But the nature of this shore--because it is 
not just a beach; it is America's greatest wetlands and marshes--if you 
stretched it out with all of its inlets and bays and estuaries, it 
would go from Miami to Seattle.
  This area is threatened, and has been for years. Yes, the oil and gas 
industry, unfortunately, has contributed to some of this damage. But it 
is also because the Mississippi River flows through here, and it has 
been dammed and tamed as best as men and women can try to tame natural 
things. The hydraulics have changed. The sea level has risen. This area 
is under great threat.
  Mr. President, 1,500 square miles have been lost since 1930; 25 
square miles of wetlands each year, which means a football field every 
30 minutes. This is an urgent matter. There is no loss of land anywhere 
in the continental United States that has as much threat to it as there 
is to this coast. We have struggled for years to find a revenue stream 
to help fix it. We understand the rest of the country says: Why should 
we fix it? It is not our coast. But what we say back is: This coast is 
important to the whole Nation. It drains 40 percent of the continent. 
It is the greatest river system in North America. No one can get wheat 
out of Kansas or Iowa without coming through this Mississippi River. So 
there is a national interest.
  Seventeen percent of GDP is basically supported and created by this 
gulf coast economy.
  We are also willing to pay our own way as well. Our parishes have 
taxed themselves. The State has set up a constitutional safeguard, a 
lockbox--if we had only done that with Social Security. We are happy to 
have a lockbox for the wetlands money that comes in, so it can only be 
used for that purpose. So we are very proud of the actions our locals 
have taken. Now it is time for the Federal Government to act.
  A few more statistics: 30 percent of the commercial fisheries in the 
United States come off this coast, and $1.7 billion in economic impact 
for recreational fishing--again, over 50 percent of the domestic oil 
and gas, because we drill for oil and gas here, that keep lights on and 
electricity flowing in Chambers such as this, in rooms and buildings 
all over our country. So that is why this is so important.
  I am going to add some other statistics for the Record about some of 
the economic impacts of this. Again, this is an important coast to the 
country and it is an important effort for the world for us in America 
to get this right. Think about the drilling that is occurring off the 
coast of Africa or Brazil or Australia or Israel and what happens. 
Let's prevent any explosions. Let's prevent these disasters. We are 
struggling to do that, and the record is pretty good, despite the 
criticism that comes, and that is a speech for another day.
  But the question is, When there is an accident, when this happens, 
how do we take that penalty money and invest it in the coast so it is 
more resilient and it will benefit people in every way over a long 
period of time in a very balanced fashion.
  I conclude by urging my colleagues along the gulf coast, from Florida 
to Alabama to Mississippi and Texas, Republicans and Democrats alike, 
Members of the House as well, to step forward and join me and Senator 
Vitter. We are open to ideas and thoughts about how the money should be 
allocated but within general sets of principles we have outlined today. 
I wish to, again, thank Senator Boxer whose committee will consider 
this in the very near future. We are hoping for a hearing in the very 
near future and then a markup on this bill to move it forward to the 
President's desk.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
some further statistics about this horrific spill and our valuable 
coast.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       On April 20, 11 men died in a massive oil rig explosion in 
     the Gulf of Mexico.
       For 3 months, oil flowed uncontrollably into the waters of 
     the Gulf of Mexico. 4.9 million barrels of oil was discharged 
     during the spill. That equates to 50,000 barrels of oil each 
     day.
       600 miles of the Gulf coastline were oiled. More than half 
     of that coastline is in Louisiana.
       320 miles of Louisiana's coastline were oiled and some oil 
     is still lingering in the marshes near Bay Jimmy on the east 
     side of Plaquemine Parish.
       6,814 dead animals have been collected, including 6,104 
     birds, 609 sea turtles, 100 dolphins and other mammals, and 1 
     other reptile.
       86,985 square miles of waters were closed to fishing. 
     Approximately 36% of Federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico 
     were closed to fishing for months.
       30 percent of commercial fisheries in the United States are 
     located in the Gulf of Mexico.
       It is estimated that $2.5 billion were lost in our Gulf of 
     Mexico fishing industry.
       $23 billion is estimated in impacts to tourism across the 
     Gulf Coast over a three-year

[[Page S2536]]

     period, as estimated by the U.S. Travel Association.
       The Gulf Coast accounts for a $1.7 billion economic impact 
     to the nation from recreational fishing.
       30 percent of the nation's crude oil supply and 34 percent 
     of the natural gas consumed in the U.S. are produced in 
     Louisiana or adjacent Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
       Nearly 50 percent of all the domestically produced oil and 
     gas that fuels this nation comes from the Gulf of Mexico.
       $8 to 10 billion in direct OCS revenues go to the U.S. 
     Treasury each year.
       $3 trillion is contributed to the national economy by the 
     Gulf Coast.
       12 million people live in coastal Louisiana.
       17 percent of the National GDP comes from the Gulf Coast.
       1,900 square miles of land have been lost in Louisiana 
     since 1930.
       25 square miles of wetlands are lost each year--or a 
     football field-sized area every 30 minutes.
                                 ______