[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 152 (Wednesday, October 12, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H6788]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          DRILLING EQUALS JOBS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Landry) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LANDRY. Mr. Speaker, with the free trade agreements being debated 
this week, some of my Democratic colleagues have been talking about our 
trade deficit. However, if they really want to reduce the trade 
deficit, they'd help me end the President's de facto moratorium on 
offshore drilling.
  You see, if oil were a country, it would be our biggest trading 
partner. Oil makes up 65 percent of our trade deficit. And it's simple: 
Drilling equals jobs. It equals American jobs.
  You see what I have here is a parking lot to one of the heliports 
down in my district. In 2004, the parking lot was full. Last year, the 
parking lot was empty. And you don't have to worry because that parking 
lot, when we're drilling offshore, is this full 365 days a year.
  Here is a port in my district which supplies over 30 percent of the 
oil and gas that fuels this Nation. You can see the boats in 2004 in 
the busy port; and today, it's empty.
  If we really want a jobs bill, this is it. In the past year, 
deepwater permit issuance is 39 percent below the monthly averages 
observed over the past 3 years; and shallow water permits, permits that 
were supposedly never impacted by the moratorium, are off 80 percent 
over historical averages. As a result of this de facto moratorium, 11 
offshore rigs scheduled to drill in the gulf have relocated to 
countries like Brazil, Nigeria, Egypt, Congo, French Guiana, and 
Liberia.
  Now, what does this say about American policies when businesses 
prefer the regulatory certainty offered by Egypt over the bureaucratic 
uncertainty off our own shores? And while 11 rigs might not seem like a 
lot, each drilling platform supports 200 to 300 workers every month. 
Additionally, each exploration and production job supports four other 
positions. Therefore, 900 to 1,400 jobs per idle rig platform are at 
risk if production does not resume as soon as possible.

                              {time}  1050

  Wages for those jobs average $1,800 per week, so the potential for 
lost wages is more than $5 million to $10 million per month, per 
platform.
  Drilling equals good-paying jobs.
  According to the Obama administration's own estimates, the 6-month 
``official moratorium'' on drilling cost up to 12,000 jobs. However, 
the long-term impacts of the de facto moratorium could be significantly 
higher. A study by Louisiana State University predicts, if the de facto 
ban on deepwater drilling were sustained for 18 more months, we could 
lose 36,000 jobs nationwide, 24,000 of those along the gulf coast 
region alone. If the administration would accelerate the permit 
issuance instead of continuing this de facto moratorium, we could 
create a quarter of a million jobs in this country, and we could 
increase the GDP by $8 trillion over the next 10 years.
  As I said, the solution is actually very simple--at no cost to the 
taxpayer and with the ability to bring revenue into the Federal 
Government.
  It's simple, Mr. Speaker: Drilling equals jobs.

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