[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 7, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H521]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1220
                    ENERGY SECURITY AND UNEMPLOYMENT

  (Mr. RIGELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RIGELL. Mr. Speaker, we have within our grasp the opportunity to 
boldly address two of America's greatest challenges: energy security 
and unemployment. These two issues are inextricably linked. We can no 
longer tolerate a stagnant, slow-growth economy that's saddled with 
historic unemployment rates and a dangerous dependence on foreign oil. 
A key solution to these problems is energy, specifically, American 
energy.
  The President said in this House that we must have an all-of-the-
above strategy to energy independence. I agree. That includes 
harvesting the energy in every corner of America, including the 3.8 
billion barrels of oil and gas off the coast of Virginia.
  Last week, I introduced the Mid-Atlantic Energy and Jobs Act of 2012 
to free up Virginia's abundant offshore energy. This legislation will 
help us achieve energy independence and could produce more than 18,000 
local jobs, and it requires a significant amount of the royalties 
produced by the exploration to go toward improving our environment. The 
time to act is now. This Congress, this President, we're Americans. 
Let's do this.

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