[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 10029-10031]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           OILSPILL CLOSES IN

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, my worst fears are coming true. 
The wind that had so blessed us in our State of Florida for going on 7 
weeks now shifted a few days ago, and this big spill of oil is moving 
to the east and to the northeast, and it is closing in on the gulf 
coast, the northwest gulf coast of Florida.
  Thus far, most of the more concentrated oil is well off shore. Under 
the command of the Coast Guard, there are skimmers 25 to 50 miles out 
from the coast that have a boom that goes out from a fairly decently 
sized ship that then scoops up that oil into a concentrated area. Then 
they have what is kind of like a vacuum pump. It is almost like a 
vacuum cleaner. It sits and floats on top of the water, on top of the 
oil, and it sucks it up into a pipe, and that goes into a tank or a 
rubber bladder on top of the ship. Thus far, they have been able to 
take care of a good bit of that oil.
  Of course, that is the strategy--to keep the oil offshore; don't let 
it get to shore because when it does, it messes up your beach and, even 
worse, it messes up the wetlands. As a matter of fact, when oil gets 
into wetlands, into marsh grass, into mangroves, you have a problem. 
More than likely, it is going to take a while for that marsh grass to 
come back. Mangroves and oil do not mix. Of course, then we are talking 
about these unique estuaries that spawn so much of our marine life in 
the Gulf of Mexico. So what we have is a nightmare that potentially is 
coming to reality.
  There are a lot of people who are working awfully hard. The Coast 
Guard is working hard, but right now the Coast Guard is stretched to 
the limit. There are only so many Coastguardsmen. They still have to do 
all the things the Coast Guard has to do all over the world, including 
the gulf coast. They still have to do rescue. They still have to do 
search missions.

[[Page 10030]]

Down in south Florida, we still have to have the Coast Guard there 
going after the drug runners. So there is a limited amount we can have. 
As good as those men and women are, they are stretched to the limit. 
They are going around the clock.
  As the oil continues to gush, this problem is going to become more 
and more acute. It could become acute in a number of ways. We are being 
told--and I can certainly say this Senator has become a skeptic about 
what is correct information. Remember when we were told it was only 
1,000 barrels of oil a day that was gushing into the gulf? A couple of 
weeks later, that was revised to 5,000 barrels of oil a day, and then 
that was revised to 12,000, but the report was omitted that said it 
could be as high as 25,000.
  Now we are told that this attempt called the top hat; that is, an 
attempt to put a cap on the top of that blowout preventer where they 
cut off the riser pipe, and the oil is going up to the surface to a 
tanker--they are saying that is now 10,000 barrels a day, but look at 
the live video and see how much of it is still gushing outside of that 
top hat.
  So how much is going into the gulf? Well, if it is 25,000 barrels a 
day, if that is the accurate figure, there is still 15,000 barrels of 
oil a day going into the gulf. And if it keeps going--and the Coast 
Guard admiral said yesterday it is going to go until September, until 
they can get the relief wells down and try to plug it with cement down 
near the oil reservoir, which is some 18,000 feet below the seabed. If 
it keeps gushing that amount all the way to September, it will be close 
to the largest oilspill there has ever been on planet Earth in the sea, 
which was the Ixtoc in the Bay of Campeche spill that spewed for 10 
months. By the way, it was only in 150 feet of water, and they couldn't 
get it stopped. This is in 5,000 feet of water.
  If I sound a little distressed and frustrated, it is that I am 
because this Senator is reflecting the feelings of his people.
  What about the fishermen--those fishermen who have offered to use 
their boats for BP but have not been contracted to use them, but they 
can't use their boats because the waters are closed or even if the 
waters are not closed, the fish houses won't buy their fish because 
fish houses from all over the country are calling in and saying: We 
don't want your gulf fish; we think it is tainted.
  What about those charter boat captains, in the height of the season, 
summer, on the gulf coast of Florida? Those boat captains don't have 
the recreational fishermen coming and chartering their boats to go out 
because over a third of the gulf is closed, and for the same reasons--
they are worried about the fish. Are they getting hired by BP? Why are 
they hiring people from Tennessee and Arkansas and North Carolina with 
boats? Why aren't they hiring the Florida fishermen whose livelihoods 
have vanished?
  I am expressing some of the frustration my people are expressing to 
me.
  What about the poor hotel owners? They are at the height of the 
season. It starts Memorial Day and goes all the way to Labor Day. What 
about them? What about the restaurants that are in the height of the 
season? We hope people will come, because the beaches are still some of 
the most beautiful in the world. But the fact that they now see these 
silver-dollar-size tar balls--in some cases, hamburger-patty-size tar 
balls--that are all over the beach, are they still going to come and 
honor their reservation at the hotel? Will they go to the local 
restaurant? And if they do go there, will they order the local seafood?
  There are a lot of frustrated folks. By the way, Mr. President, the 
Presiding Officer is the former chief executive of his State. What 
about the local and State revenues? The State of Florida doesn't have 
an income tax. The State of Florida has a sales tax. The sales tax--if 
people are not staying in hotel rooms, and they are not buying meals in 
restaurants, and if they are not buying down at the local stores, the 
revenue is starting to dip. What is going to happen to the budgets of 
the local and the State governments and the revenues they come to 
expect?
  In the midst of all of this, we hear that BP says it will be 
accountable. Yet, we come out here on this floor--Senator Menendez, 
Senator Lautenberg, and I--and ask unanimous consent that in order to 
eliminate the artificially low cap of $75 million on liability for 
economic losses, there is always an oil State Senator who will stand up 
and object to our consent request to raise this artificially low cap. 
BP says it is going to, in fact, take care of legitimate expenses. But 
at the same time, BP was quick to point out in hearings that have gone 
on for several weeks--and certainly the nine hearings this week will go 
on--it will point out that there is a certain responsibility of the 
operator of the rig, Transocean, and the operator of putting the cement 
down into the well, around the casing that was supposed to be set, but 
obviously was imperfect--that operator was Halliburton.
  So, in effect, what we are going to have, and already have, is people 
pointing both ways. There are going to be so many lawsuits that will go 
on by the time they get to the bottom of this. And the investigation is 
going to go on for so long. In the meantime, what about our people and 
their livelihoods? What are they going to do?
  I was told by the fishermen that you have to have 14 days in which to 
actually send in the requisition after you have done your work, once 
you have been signed up, and you then expect to be paid within 14 days 
after you submitted your request for payment. Plus 14 is 28, so where 
is the fisherman going to get any money within that month in order to 
pay his deckhands, his assistants, and to pay his bills? It can 
continue to multiply. You wonder why I sound frustrated? There is so 
much uncertainty and people are scared.
  In the meantime, BP indeed has given some money for an advertising 
campaign--and that is a good thing--for Florida to run advertisements 
to say that our beaches are open, come on. But you know the reality of 
what they are hearing. I hope people will, because I can tell you those 
tar balls that are there--if people will get out there and clean it 
up--oh, by the way, it has to be an appropriately recognized group to 
go out and clean up the tar balls contracted by BP. Why can't we get 
our local governments to go out there and get those tar balls off the 
beach, so our guests and visitors can enjoy our God-given assets?
  All of these are questions that are still to be answered. So I am 
going to try several times with my colleagues to continue to get this 
artificially low cap raised so it will send a message to any oil 
company that in the future you better not cut corners. You better not 
have that cozy, incestuous relationship with the government regulator 
you have had for the last two decades. You better not think you are 
going to influence the government regulator as you have--as has been 
stated by the inspector general's report in 2008--with sex, drugs, 
booze, gifts, trips. And the revolving door, as stated by the most 
recent IG report last month--the revolving door, where they come out of 
the industry, the door revolves, and they come in as the MMS, the 
Minerals Management Service, the government regulator; and then the 
door revolves and they go right back into the employ of the oil 
industry. That is a conflict of interest. That is not government 
oversight of an industry, and it has led to this circumstance, where 
three apparatuses did not work as back-up mechanisms on the blow-out 
preventer, and it has led to the sad condition that we now have, where 
oil is gushing, and has been for 49 days, into the Gulf of Mexico and 
is ruining a culture and a way of life.
  I want to say that the Presiding Officer's State is not immune, and 
the other Senator on the floor right now, his State--an Atlantic coast 
State as well--is not immune, because, sadly, sooner or later the winds 
are going to continue to carry this oilspill to the South. It is going 
to get in what is known as the Loop Current and some of it is already 
entrained in the Loop Current.
  The Loop Current goes up into the northern Gulf of Mexico and loops 
back South, all the way down around the

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Florida Keys, and it becomes the gulf stream. It then moves North as 
the gulf stream up the coast of Florida, off the Keys. It then comes in 
and hugs the southeast coast of Florida quite close--very close--mostly 
in places less than a mile off the beach. It continues on up to the 
middle of the peninsula of Florida, and then it takes a turn to the 
Northeast and parallels the east coast of the United States. It goes up 
to Cape Hatteras, NC, and depending on winds, I would say to the two 
Senators who are hearing my words, even though that current, called the 
gulf stream, that goes off of Cape Hatteras across the Atlantic to 
Scotland--depending on winds and wave action, it can carry some of that 
oil to the rest of the Atlantic seaboard and to the States represented 
by the two very distinguished Senators here on the floor. So this could 
have profound effects.
  The question is, how do we get it stopped and, thus far, nothing has 
happened. So I think it is time for all hands on deck. I think it is 
time to realize that we have to throw in every asset we have to try to 
keep this oil off the coast, and especially out of the wetlands, and 
don't let what happened to Louisiana happen to the rest of our States, 
especially those delicate wetlands where you cannot get oil out of 
them. Then maybe this nightmare will be over.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kaufman). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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