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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) gave the following statement on the floor of the U.S. House today in opposition to H.R. 4761, the Domestic Energy Production through Offshore Exploration and Equitable Treatment of State Holdings Act of 2006 (DOER Act), a Republican sponsored bill that will allow states to open their shores to oil and gas drilling.
The Act, which later passed the House by a vote of 232 to 187, ends 25 years of bi-partisan prohibitions of offshore oil and gas drilling on the outer continental shelf. Under the bill, a coastal state can "opt-in" to oil and natural gas drilling from 3 to 50 miles offshore. From 50 to 100 miles offshore, states that want to prohibit drilling must petition the Department of Interior every five years. In areas further than 100 miles offshore, any drilling is permitted. The bill will now move to the U.S. Senate for consideration.
"Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this bill. House Republicans have called this week their so-called "energy week," but the best they can do is offer up the same tired old refrain of drill, drill, drill. Unfortunately for them, and for the American people, simply allowing more drilling is going to do virtually nothing for gasoline or natural gas prices and nothing to move us towards a sustainable energy future.
Proponents of this misguided legislation will accuse those of us fighting the bill of only saying "no" and not having any solutions of our own. Well, that is setting up a false choice -- they're saying that either we are for drilling or we are for absolutely nothing.
The truth is that many of my colleagues and I have repeatedly offered solutions to our energy problems, only to have them rebuffed and not brought to the floor for a vote. Many of these solutions would not be germane to today's bill but are critical to solving our energy problems. I'm talking about increasing fuel economy standards for our cars; introducing renewable portfolio standards, a proven way to lower natural gas prices; and strengthening energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances.
The choice that we are making today -- whether or not to pass this bill -- comes with a serious price tag. According to the Minerals Management Services' estimates, the revenue sharing in this bill, along with giveaways to the oil and gas companies, would cost taxpayers $69 billion over 15 years.
What's worse, allowing drilling in sensitive offshore areas would endanger coastal economies in states like New Jersey, which rely heavily on clean beaches and oceans to fuel a strong tourism industry. There simply is no clean, environmentally friendly way to do drilling, even just for natural gas. I ask my colleagues to reject this misguided legislation and work towards passing real energy solutions."
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