Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this budget-busting bill that threatens our coastal communities.

This bill is unnecessary, misleading and fiscally irresponsible. 

The oil and gas companies, awash in profits from high energy prices, would have you believe:

o       that all the offshore resources are off limits today

o       that this bill will give states “control” over drilling off their coasts

o       and that this bill is fiscally responsible

Hogwash!

First, here’s a little secret supporters of the bill don’t want you to know.

The industry already has access to the vast majority of oil and gas on the OCS. 

According to the Bush Administration some 80 percent of the known reserves are located in areas where drilling is already allowed!

Furthermore, the oil and gas industry already owns drilling rights to more than 4,000 untapped leases in the Gulf of Mexico alone.

Why should we open the entire US coast to drilling when the industry won’t drill where it already can?

Second, this bill turns federal efforts for coastal protection and public lands protection on its head.

The federal government sets the rules on drilling and other activities in federal waters.

The impact on the environment and the fishing and transportation industries are just too broad to be determined by a single state.

But this bill turns these important decisions over to states.

It would be like letting California decide what should go on in Yosemite or letting Pennsylvania set the rules for air quality for the east coast.

And as for the claim that the bill gives a state control of oil drilling off its coast, that’s full of holes too.

This bill ends the current moratorium on new drilling immediately.

In order to continue even parts of the current ban, a state has to clear numerous hurdles. 

It has to petition the feds – through separate legislative votes and actions by the governor. 

The petitioning has to be repeated every five years.

And the federal government can simply ignore a state’s request for continuation of the ban anyway!

That’s hardly giving a state “control” over its coast protection.

Finally, this bill creates a new, permanent entitlement that will add billions to the federal deficit. 

The Bush Administration says the bill would cost 74 billion dollars over the next 15 years and a whopping 600 billion dollars over the next 60 years.

For my fiscally conservative friends who’ve spent hours trying to strike 100,000 dollar earmarks from appropriations bills, let me repeat that:

The bill will add 74 billion dollars to the deficit over next 15 years and 600 billion dollars over the next 60 years.

And for my fiscally conservative Blue Dog friends:  this budget busting bill will add even more zeroes to those great deficit signs outside your offices.

I know that Chairman Pombo has spent the last couple of days trying to bring that cost down.

But who really knows what the effect of his proposed changes are, given the little time anyone has actually had to digest his manager’s amendment?

Mr. Speaker, if Members really want to put the brakes on reckless budgeting, here’s the chance to lower the deficit by dollars and not pennies.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is a bad deal for America.

It will unnecessarily put at risk protections for our coastlines that have been in place for 25 years.

It will lead to even more control of our offshore waters by the oil and gas industry.

And it will lead to even larger federal budget deficits.

Vote NO on this budget-buster!

Pictured above: (center) Congresswoman Capps meets with Central Coast firefighters to discuss emergency preparedness.