[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 64 (Wednesday, May 11, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E853]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              PUTTING THE GULF OF MEXICO BACK TO WORK ACT

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                               speech of

                            HON. GENE GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 10, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1229) to 
     amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to facilitate the 
     safe and timely production of American energy resources from 
     the Gulf of Mexico:

  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of H.R. 
1229.
  H.R. 1229 is important because while the moratoria on shallow water 
drilling and deep water drilling were lifted on May 28, 2010 and 
October 12, 2010 respectively, since that time, BOEM has only issued 51 
permits for new shallow water wells and only a handful of permits for 
deepwater activities that were subject to the moratorium. This is in 
comparison to an average of 10 permits issued per week pre-spill.
  While I support the safety requirements that the Department of the 
Interior has put into place since the Macondo Spill, I continue to hear 
from companies that the BOEM is rejecting drilling applications without 
providing adequate guidance as to what is needed to get the application 
approved. This is getting us nowhere. We need this production.
  America's offshore, primarily the Gulf of Mexico, supplies 30% of 
American oil and 10% of American natural gas. Yet, a recent study done 
by Wood Mackenzie concluded that nearly one third of American deepwater 
production would become uneconomic if the Department of the Interior 
increases the time spent reviewing and permitting drilling permit 
applications. Based on these figures, some estimate as many as 125,000 
jobs could be lost in 2015.
  That is why I support H.R. 1229 and why it is desperately needed. I 
encourage my colleagues to support this bill.

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