[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14014-14015]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF DRILLING

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, for years, we have had an energy policy 
that was written by big oil for big oil, and the result has been good 
for big oil but a disaster for the American people.
  Gasoline is now at over $4 per gallon, and the Bush-McCain plan is to 
do more of the same. My colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle 
have continuously sought to help big oil while at the same time they 
have blocked Democratic attempts to develop real policies to end our 
addiction to oil. The result is that under the Bush administration the 
price of oil has shot up over $140 per barrel and more, and the price 
of gasoline has more than doubled.
  Despite this history of gas prices going up and up because of failed 
policies, the Republican Party continues to block measures that will 
help create change in this situation. Every time we offer sensible 
policies to address the oil crisis, my friends on the other side of the 
aisle say no. They said no to the Consumer-First Energy Act that would 
finally clamp down on rampant oil speculation and burst the speculative 
bubble that has caused oil prices to skyrocket. Then they said no to 
the renewable energy tax extension bill that would help continue the 
rapid growth of wind and solar and provide an incentive for the 
purchase of plug-in hybrid vehicles. This would help us begin the 
transition to new energy sources so we are not so vulnerable to the 
rising cost of fossil fuels. And then our colleagues said no to climate 
change legislation that lays out the framework to completely change our 
economy from one based on oil and other fossil fuels to an economy 
based on renewable energy.
  Democrats have now laid out a sensible plan for change in our energy 
policy that will make America stronger

[[Page 14015]]

and more independent in the short, medium, and long term, but all our 
colleagues can say in return is no--no to the American people and--from 
what I hear in terms of their response--yes to big oil.
  President Bush was right when he told the Nation we are addicted to 
oil. But what amazes me is their plan is designed to have us continue 
to act like addicts. Instead of supporting real plans to conserve oil 
or even transition to sustainable fuels, the Bush-McCain plan is to go 
out in search of our next oil fix.
  Ending a bipartisan 26-year moratorium to open the Outer Continental 
Shelf to oil is simply not a solution to our oil crisis.
  To defend the senseless Bush-McCain plan to open all our shores to 
drilling, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have been 
playing fast and loose with the facts. They claim opening our shores to 
future drilling will somehow affect gas prices. As I recently pointed 
out on the floor, this argument flies in the face of projections by 
President Bush's own Energy Information Agency. They project that even 
if we opened the entire Outer Continental Shelf to drilling off the 
East Coast, off the West Coast, and opened the entire eastern Gulf of 
Mexico, nothing would happen to gas prices--not today, not tomorrow, 
not ever.
  Now, it seems that Senator McCain cannot keep up the charade any 
longer. On Monday, he admitted he did not expect his plan to provide 
relief at the pump, but that his plan would have a psychological impact 
that would be ``beneficial.'' Psychological games are not going to 
reduce the price of oil. The American people are sick and tired of 
Republican politics that try to use political spin rather than sound 
policy to solve our problems.
  Another fact that the other side of the aisle wants to keep from the 
American people is that 80 percent of the oil and natural gas resources 
in our Federal waters are already open, already open for exploration. 
Oil companies are sitting on 68 million acres of oil and natural gas 
leases where they have not produced any oil or natural gas. I joined my 
colleagues, Senator Dodd and Senator Durbin, to introduce a bill, the 
Responsible Ownership of Public Lands Act, that will charge oil 
companies an escalating fee for leased acres they put aside and do not 
use for oil and natural gas exploration. This will give these companies 
the incentives they need to stop hoarding the resources they have 
instead of seeking access to environmentally sensitive areas.
  One other factor that has not been discussed properly in this debate 
about high gas prices is the effect of President Bush's disastrous 
economic policies. The weak dollar means it simply takes more money to 
buy the same barrel of oil than it did at the beginning of President 
Bush's term. In 2000, one Euro was equal in value to $1. Today, one 
Euro is worth close to $1.60.
  In large part, this weak dollar has been caused by the enormous 
domestic budget deficits this administration has rung up to pay for the 
war in Iraq. Instead of actually paying for this mistake, the 
administration has been printing money and piling up huge debts. We are 
spending over $12 billion a month in Iraq, and this foreign policy 
disaster is now adding up to be a fiscal policy disaster. It is time we 
finally end the war and get our fiscal house in order. In turn, this 
would strengthen the value of the dollar and help lower the price of 
gasoline.
  But perhaps the most disturbing thing about the misinformation 
campaign to sell the Bush-McCain plan to open all our oceans to 
drilling is that they refuse to discuss how drilling will be 
economically and ecologically devastating to our coasts.
  On June 3 of 1979, an exploratory oil well in the Gulf of Mexico blew 
out. The resulting 140 million gallon spill was the second largest in 
world history, over 10 times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill. As you 
can see from this map, the spill traveled 600 miles to blanket the 
coast of Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana, causing tremendous damage.
  I think we all remember that on March 24 of 1989, the tanker Exxon 
Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, AK. The oil tanker ruptured 
and spilled over 10 million gallons of oil. The result was an oil spill 
over 600 miles that created one of the largest environmental disasters 
in history. We were told we had state-of-the-art technology then, in 
terms of carriers, tankers, and everything else. Well, that was 600 
miles of devastation.
  I am about to show images of the devastation following the spill, and 
certainly I would ask if there are any children watching, or those who 
are sensitive to the plight of animals, they should probably look away 
from some of the images.
  The Exxon Valdez coated the Alaska shoreline, turning a pristine 
environment into a toxic waste cleanup site. Over 11,000 people worked 
to try to clean oil washed up onshore. Even today, there is estimated 
to still be over 20,000 gallons of oil on Alaska's sandy beaches. The 
spill killed thousands of animals immediately. It killed hundreds of 
otters and seals, as many as half a million sea birds, and over 200 of 
the very symbol of America itself--the Bald Eagle.
  Anyone who saw these devastating images from this incident cannot 
forget them. But what is important to remember from these disturbing 
images is that if we open the east and west coast to drilling, the same 
thing could happen to places here in the lower 48.
  My colleagues from the Commonwealth of Virginia want to open the 
coast of Virginia to drilling. They seem to think that oil drilling 
will only affect the State of Virginia. But oil spills do not sit 
still. Remember that oil drilling spill in the gulf that traveled 600 
miles, and the Exxon Valdez spill off the coast of Alaska was over 600 
miles wide. So what would a similar spill look like on the east coast? 
It would mean a devastated coastline from New York down to South 
Carolina. The environmental impact would be immeasurable, and the 
economic impact would be enormous.
  The New Jersey shore is a priceless treasure my home State will 
protect at any cost. But the shore also generates tens of billions of 
dollars in revenues each year and supports almost half a million jobs 
in South Carolina; in Myrtle Beach alone, more than $3 billion in 
revenue. Do we want oil washing up onto Virginia Beach, flowing up into 
the Chesapeake Bay? Can Maryland's famous blue crabs survive such an 
environmental assault?
  It is time for a real cure, based on a tough examination and 
reordering of our energy priorities, and not tired old policies of the 
past. I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to end their 
efforts to block real reform. It is time we unite together to pass the 
Consumer-First Energy Act to clamp down on excessive speculation and 
finally burst this oil bubble. It is time we come together and pass the 
renewable energy tax extension bill that will promote the development 
of clean energy here at home, help our automakers develop cars that run 
on electricity, and develop advanced biofuels so we have a sustainable 
alternative to gasoline.
  If we do not do this, we are continuously wedded to the past, 
continuously wedded to the addiction, continuously wedded to a failed 
policy. To hear our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, if we 
opened the east and west coasts, it would go directly, like gas, into 
your car. We know that is not true. That is simply not going to happen.
  The American people are sick and tired of an energy policy written by 
big oil. It is time for our friends on the other side of the aisle to 
join us in real reform so we can actually achieve something that moves 
us in a much different direction.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.

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