[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12091-12092]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             BAN DRILLING FOR OIL AND GAS UNDER GREAT LAKES

  (Mr. STUPAK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remind my colleagues that 
today as we do the energy and water bill there will be an amendment by 
the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bonior), the gentlewoman from Ohio 
(Ms. Kaptur), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette), and myself to 
ban the practice of drilling for gas and oil underneath the Great 
Lakes.

[[Page 12092]]

  Now, there is a proposal that Michigan is currently moving forward 
which would allow directional drilling under the Great Lakes.

                              {time}  1045

  Why Michigan would do this to the 18 percent of the world's freshest 
waters found in the Great Lakes; 90, 95 percent of all of the fresh 
water in the United States is found at the Great Lakes, and it serves 
the homes of over 34 million people. Why we would threaten the vitality 
of the Great Lakes for a few drops of gas and oil, even during these 
energy needs, is unconscionable.
  If we take a look, the reserves are there. Even if we tap with 30 new 
wells, they propose 30 new wells, we would have enough oil for only 3 
weeks, and we would have enough natural gas for 5 weeks. Only Michigan 
seeks to do this. The Governor of Ohio recently said, no oil and gas 
drilling. The Wisconsin State Senate has passed resolutions in the past 
saying no oil and gas drilling underneath our Great Lakes.
  So I am asking my colleagues today as we do the energy and water bill 
to please take a look at what we are doing. We have to conserve, we 
have to be resourceful, but let us not drill for oil and gas in the 
Great Lakes. Join this bipartisan amendment.

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