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“DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008” mentioning the Department of Interior was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1464 on June 29, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES
APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008
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speech of
HON. JIM COSTA
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2643) making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, and for other purposes:
Mr. COSTA. Mr. Chairman, two days ago the House voted to defeat an amendment to H.R. 2643 offered by Mr. Peterson that would have lifted the moratoria on the Outer Continental Shelf for natural-gas only leasing. While I voted against the amendment, I wanted to elaborate on my views on this matter.
I certainly support the gentleman's goal of increasing our access to domestic supplies of natural gas, and we have demonstrated that it is possible to explore and produce oil and gas in our oceans and remain environmentally responsible at the same time. There are dozens of platforms operating off the coast of California today, producing nearly 30 million barrels of oil and 60 billion cubic feet of natural gas each year while releasing a negligible amount of that into the environment. There hasn't been a spill of larger than 50 barrels since 1996, and there has not been a truly significant spill in nearly 40 years.
This demonstrates that when oil and gas development is done correctly, it can be a tremendous resource with little detrimental environmental impact. I support taking a close look at areas that are currently under a moratorium, so that we understand both the opportunities and the risks of opening up these regions.
Unfortunately, we are sorely lacking up-to-date information on the oil and natural resources of our Outer Continental Shelf. Earlier today I chaired a hearing in the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, in which the Acting Director of the Minerals Management Service, Walter Cruickshank, testified that the most recent data on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts was collected in the late 1970s. When opponents of Outer Continental Shelf development argue that 80 percent of the oil and gas is already accessible to leasing, they are using badly outdated data.
If we are going to have this discussion, we need to have a much better knowledge of the extent and value of the oil and gas resources of the Outer Continental Shelf. Only then will we be able to really look at the big picture and determine the proper balance between energy development and other important resource values, including tourism, fisheries and national security, to name a few.
My primary concern with Mr. Peterson's amendment is that it proposed to allow for gas-only leases.
Unfortunately, this idea is, quite simply, not feasible.
There are various reasons I come to this conclusion. Most fundamentally, however, is the simple fact that oil and gas are often co-located and it is unrealistic to assume or assert that the industry would be interested in buying a lease that would preclude development of any oil found in the leased tract. As the former director of the Minerals Management Service, Johnnie Burton, said in a Senate hearing just last year, the vast majority of comments they received from the oil and gas industry on this idea were negative, because it was, ``not terribly practical.'' The fact is, as Ms. Burton put it, ``you never know what you are going to find until you drill.''
I maintain that we should certainly be taking a hard look at those areas that are currently off limits, many of which may be appropriate places to explore. As Chairman of the Energy and Mineral Resources subcommittee, I look forward to working with my colleagues to help craft a forward-thinking energy bill that looks at the big picture, and admit that there is no silver bullet for solving our nation's energy challenges. We must increase domestic production of fossil fuels while at the same time focusing on renewables, conservation, and ensuring that we strike the proper balance of development of our nation's abundant resources and good environmental stewardship.
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