[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 12847-12848]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



         ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2002

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. MIKE ROGERS

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 27, 2001

  Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Chairman, I want to commend my colleague 
from Michigan.
  This is a solution though, that is looking for a problem. There is 
not one State in the Great Lakes Basin that allows off-shore drilling, 
not one. In Michigan, there is a moratorium on new directional angle 
drilling wells. What are we doing with this amendment?
  This amendment is not about protecting the Great Lakes. For instance, 
it does nothing to address the potential for diversion of our fresh 
Great Lakes water. This amendment goes in a direction that I hope many 
in this chamber find disagreeable as it deeply involves the federal 
government in Great Lakes decision-making. I trust my Governor. I trust 
the Governors of the Great Lakes States to be in charge of the water of 
the Great Lakes States.
  As a matter of fact, underneath the Great Lakes today, there are 
roughly 22,000 barrels of crude oil that float per hour under the Great 
Lakes. There are 550 off-shore wells operated by Canadians. This bill 
addresses none of that. There are 5 million tons of oil bobbing around 
on the Great Lakes every year via cargo ship, which leads to an average 
of 20 spills a year on our Great Lakes. This amendment does nothing to 
address any of those issues.
  This amendment is not about protecting the Great Lakes; instead, it 
is about the federal government going into the State of Michigan and 
telling the legislators in Lansing that they do not know what they're 
doing. There are some great protections of our Great Lakes, and I trust 
those Governors, and I trust those Great Lakes state legislators to do 
the right thing.
  I want to say it again, because this is very important, and I've 
heard it 10 times if I've heard it once, that somebody is out there 
trying to build an oil rig in the Great Lakes and that President Bush 
is leading the charge. This is ridiculous. There is not one State in 
the Great Lakes Basin that permit off-shore drilling. Not one. There is 
a moratorium on new licenses for directional drilling in the State of 
Michigan today. So what is the purpose for the Bonior Amendment?
  Mr. Chairman, I do not believe that a bureaucrat in Washington, DC, 
whose only experience with Michigan's Upper Peninsula is a picture in 
the National Geographic, is better equipped to protect our shoreline 
and our Great Lakes. I want the people who live on the Great Lakes to 
make those decisions. The gentlewoman from Ohio talked about HOMES, the 
acronym by which schoolchildren learn the names of the Great Lakes. 
HOMES is appropriate because the people who make their homes in the 
Great Lakes States should be making decisions about the Great Lakes. 
Why? Because we live there. We see the water, we see the pollution, we 
fought back and reclaimed Lake Erie. We can again eat the fish that 
swim in our lakes. Why? Because the people of the Great Lakes States 
took action. It is nothing that Congress did. That is why this argument 
should not be taking place on the floor of the United States House, it 
should be taking place in the legislatures of the Great Lakes States.
  Mr. Chairman, I am passionate about the Great Lakes, but we have a 
true difference of opinion on the proper role of Congress in this 
debate. For example, look at the issue of water diversion. There is a 
bill in this House to empower Congress to decide what happens on 
diversion issues in the Great Lakes. The last I checked, the dry states 
of the Plains and Southwest could use a bit more extra water; and, the 
last I checked, there are more members from those states in this 
chamber than from Great Lakes States. These issues have no business in 
this Chamber. It has all the business in the chambers in our State 
legislatures back home.
  This is a solution that is looking for a problem.
  There is a package of bills in the House to address this issue in a 
manner that doesn't encroach on our States' rights. One concerns the 
diversion and export of Great Lakes water. Another is a resolution 
urging States to continue the ban on off-shore drilling in our Great 
Lakes and that goes after those 550 wells currently in operation in 
Canada.
  It is important to remember that what the Federal Government can give 
us, they can take away. Pretty soon, maybe the faces of this Chamber 
will change, and maybe pretty soon the folks in this Chamber will 
decide that we want oil production from the Great Lakes. And since most 
of the members of this Chamber do not reside in the Great Lakes Basin, 
nor do the Washington, DC bureaucrats overseeing federal policy, the 
decision may come from Washington to tap into the Great Lakes oil 
reserves.
  There is only one thing that can protect us from that: Our state 
legislators and our governors of the Great Lakes States.
  Mr. Chairman, I want to urge this body to reject the Bonior 
Amendment, to throw out all the rhetoric about how without this 
amendment there will be polluted water, people rushing to put oil rigs 
on the Great Lakes, and how oil will start gushing into the waters of 
Lake Michigan or Superior. This is just absolutely untrue.
  What I would encourage the gentleman from Michigan to do is to work 
with us. We should take a look at studying the quality of those pipes 
that are pumping those 22,000 barrels an hour under the Great Lakes 
today. Let us get together and tell Canada, get off the water. Shut 
down those rigs that are pumping on the water as we speak. We should 
work together to ensure that those ships bobbing around on the Lakes 
carrying 5 million tons of oil are safe and don't continue to average 
20 spills each year.
  Does the gentleman want to do something for the Great Lakes? Let us 
partner with our states and help solve this issue. The federal 
government should not come in and flex its muscles and tell state 
legislators that they really don't know what they are doing.
  I used to be an FBI agent, and when I would walk into a local police 
station and tell them the federal government was here to help, I can 
tell you I never received a warm welcome. And I can tell you that 
passing legislation like the Bonior Amendment ensures that Congress 
will not receive a warm welcome in the State halls of Lansing and other 
Great Lakes capitals.
  Mr. Chairman, this is an important issue. It is an extremely 
important issue. I grew up on

[[Page 12848]]

a lake. I want that lake safe for my kids. I want them to go to Lake 
Michigan and be able to play in the water and not have to worry about 
turning green when they come home. I want them to be able to eat the 
fish in Lake Erie.
  I mean no disrespect to this Chamber; but, I just came from the State 
legislature, and I have seen the good things that Congress can do, and 
I have seen the bad things that Congress can do. I also served with 
some very bright people in that State legislature. I served with a 
great Governor who understood that we had to protect our Great Lakes 
while we have a moratorium on new drilling. I want those people 
empowered to make a difference for our Great Lakes.
  I would urge this today's strong rejection of the Federal Government 
encroaching into the business of the Great Lakes States.
  I applaud all of the Members for getting up on the floor and talking 
about their passion for protecting one of our greatest natural 
resources. Well, let us do just that, but let us be a partner with the 
States.
  Talk to our state legislators, talk to our governors. They will be 
with us. Talk to the people who live there and ask them who do they 
best trust to protect our Great Lakes? Is it the people that get up 
every morning and eat breakfast, go to work, and send their children to 
school in the shadow of the Lakes, or is it a bureaucrat that they have 
never met in the halls of some Washington, DC bureaucracy? Or is it a 
future member of Congress from a dry state like California who stands 
up, maybe 50 years from now, and argues that it is worth the risk to 
stick a pipe in fresh water to extract oil? The answer is clear, our 
States are the best guardians of the Great Lakes.
  I urge my colleagues to stand up for the Great Lakes today. Stand up 
for the environment of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, 
Minnesota, New York, and Wisconsin. Stand up for these states by 
rejecting the Federal Government's role of encroaching on our ability 
back home to protect our greatest natural resource. I would urge this 
body's rejection of the Bonior Amendment.

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