[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 112 (Wednesday, July 25, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1329]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONGRESSIONAL REPLACEMENT OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S ENERGY-RESTRICTING AND 
                  JOB-LIMITING OFFSHORE DRILLING PLAN

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. C.W. BILL YOUNG

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 24, 2012

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 6082) to 
     officially replace, within the 60-day Congressional review 
     period under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, President 
     Obama's Proposed Final Outer Continental Shelf Oil & Gas 
     Leasing Program (2012-2017) with a congressional plan that 
     will conduct additional oil and natural gas lease sales to 
     promote offshore energy development, job creation, and 
     increased domestic energy production to ensure a more secure 
     energy future in the United States, and for other purposes:

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chair, I rise today to express my continued 
support for the restrictions placed on oil and gas leasing in the 
Eastern Gulf of Mexico under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 
2006. I am pleased that H.R. 6082 continues this moratorium and 
recognizes an area not only critical to the protection of Florida's 
beautiful beaches and unique environment but to the training of our 
nation's sailors, Marines and pilots who conduct training exercises 
there on a regular basis.
  As you know, I have been working on the issue of drilling in the 
Eastern Gulf of Mexico since 1983, when the oil industry proposed 
drilling off the Gulf Coast of Florida. That year, I offered an 
amendment to a 1983 supplemental appropriations bill to create the 
first buffer zone to protect Florida's Gulf Coast from offshore oil 
drilling. Congress did not implement this buffer zone only to protect 
the economic or environmental interests of the State of Florida; rather 
we also recognized the potential conflict that exists between drilling 
and naval and aviation military activities.
  The importance of this area to our military training was affirmed in 
2000, when the Department of Defense requested that no above-surface 
structures be built in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, officially 
establishing the Military Mission Line within which no drilling can 
occur. This decision proved timely when the Air Force and Army were 
forced to end training exercises in Vieques, Puerto Rico and had to 
find a new site to undertake these specialized training activities. The 
Eastern Gulf of Mexico was the only site available where this training 
could continue because this naval and aviation training is incompatible 
with drilling platforms and drilling ships.
  Since the first amendment in 1983, I negotiated with my colleagues to 
include this moratorium in appropriations bills year after year, until 
a bipartisan compromise was reached in 2006 that balanced increased 
domestic energy production with the critical military activities 
conducted in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. This carefully crafted 
agreement opened 8.3 million acres south of the Florida Panhandle to 
drilling, an area previously under a ban, while barring new oil and gas 
leases off Florida's coastline until June 30, 2022, and codifying the 
ban on drilling within the Military Mission Line.
  Prior to the enactment of the current moratorium, then Secretary of 
Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated that ``in those areas east of the 
Military Mission Line, drilling structures and associated development 
would be incompatible with military activities, such as missile 
flights, low-flying drone aircraft, weapons testing and training.'' By 
maintaining the drilling ban in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, H.R. 6082 
continues to protect an area that holds the U.S. military's largest 
training and testing area.
  Mr. Chair, I am pleased to support this measure that will responsibly 
increase our domestic oil production while maintaining the important 
protections against drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, in order to 
ensure that our military readiness and training capabilities are not 
compromised.

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