WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Allen Boyd (D-North Florida) issued the following statement after his discussion today with Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole regarding the latest clean up and containment efforts underway in response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“I thank Secretary Sole for meeting with me today.  Every effort at the local, state and federal levels, along with contributions from the private sector, is being taken to clean up and contain this crisis as quickly as possible.

“It goes without saying, but this tragedy will have a devastating impact on our regions’ environment and economy the closer it gets to our shores, particularly our Gulf Coast communities whose residents rely on clean Gulf waters to sustain their economic livelihood.  Our response to this crisis must be two-fold: we must work to rebuild and repair the damage caused to our environment by this disaster, but we must also assist and support our local communities who will be unfairly burdened by this incident.

“I will continue working with all levels of government to see that this crisis is abated as quickly as possible, that reasonable precautions are put in place to ensure another event of this magnitude is avoided in the future, and that assistance is provided to our businesses and industries that rely on clean Gulf waters for their livelihood.

“Moving forward, it is imperative that we take every reasonable step to prevent another incident like this from happening, which is why I believe any plans for expanding offshore drilling in the Gulf should be suspended until a thorough investigation into what caused this disaster is completed.”

For the latest information on coordinated response efforts and additional resources, please click here.

###