[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 144 (Tuesday, September 10, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H7586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE HEALTH OF FLORIDA'S ECOSYSTEM

  (Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL. Madam Speaker, today I rise in support of the 
Coastal and Marine Economies Protection Act and the Protecting and 
Securing Florida's Coastline Act.
  It is estimated that 11 percent of Florida's plant species and 883 
vertebrate and invertebrate species are endemic to our State. Florida 
has 114 federally endangered or threatened species in our community.
  The Florida reef is the third largest reef in the world and the only 
living coral reef in the continental United States.
  Florida's unique ecosystem is too delicate to put at risk to the 
hazards of the drilling process. Offshore drilling puts our tourism 
industry and fishing industry at risk, two of the biggest factors in 
our economy here in Florida.
  Drilling should never take priority over keeping our ecosystems 
healthy or our fishermen's jobs. It is time to put the health and the 
well-being of our community over the greed of corporate polluters.

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