To: Shadegg Insiders
From: John Shadegg
Last week Nancy Pelosi passed an energy bill that will not produce one barrel of oil. Below are two floor statements I made regarding the bill and what it DOESN'T do to help produce more American-made energy.
Rep. Shadegg on Providing for Consideration of H.R. 6899, Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act (House of Representatives - September 16, 2008)
Mr. Speaker, this is a sad day for America. Contrary to what my
friend from Massachusetts says, there is no drill, drill, drill, no change in this bill. There is not one drop of oil in this bill. And let me explain why. I went to the Rules Committee and said that any oil produced under this bill will be challenged in lawsuits and there won't be a drop produced. Let's put a limit on the lawsuits. The Rules Committee said absolutely no. Why did I do that?
Last year, the Bush administration issued 487 leases in the Chukchi Sea. Environmental groups sued not 484 or 485 or 486. They sued every single lease. There are 748 leases also in Alaska in the Beaufort Sea. The environmentalists have sued all 748. There were 12 drilling plans filed last year with the Minerals and Management Service to produce oil off of Alaska. How many were sued? All 12. The Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, every single lease has been challenged in court. We could solve that problem with limits, reasonable limits on litigation. But instead, the Rules Committee said absolutely no, we want no limits on litigation. Not only are there lawsuits filed by environmental groups against every existing lease in Alaska and the lower 48, they filed a lawsuit against all future oil leases. Any American who believes this bill will produce one drop of oil is being deceived by the lawyers that will sue and sue and sue.
Rep Shadegg on COMPREHENSIVE AMERICAN ENERGY SECURITY AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT -- (House of Representatives - September 16, 2008)
I thank the gentleman. My colleague on the other side just said nobody got everything they wanted out of this bill. The reality is nobody gets anything out of this bill. Nobody gets anything of out of this bill except the environmental groups who will sue to block all oil production. The reality is we are legislating to solve a crisis that we created. It was the Congress at the urging of environmental groups that blocked Outer Continental Shelf drilling.
It was the Congress that blocked drilling in the Inter-Mountain West. It was the Congress that blocked drilling in Alaska. Do you know what that has done? That has cost Americans jobs. That has cost the people in my district their chance to earn a livelihood because we locked that all up. Are we opening it up today? Is my colleague right that this is a compromise? Absolutely not.
We are not opening up one single square inch of drilling. Let me make it clear. The Sierra Club said ``we are working very hard on this bill to ensure that its focus is not expanded offshore drilling.' Mr. Murtha, a close friend of Speaker Pelosi, said, he admitted that, this is a political month.
Last Wednesday, he said that there are all kinds of things we are going to try to do that will go away after we leave. They don't plan to produce oil under this bill. It's just talk. The legislative director of the radical Natural Resources Defense Council acknowledged the same thing about the Democrats' ploy:
``This is about politics, not necessarily about policy.' Democrats know that not a drop of oil will be produced because lawyers will file
lawsuits stopping every single one.
Let me make the point: The administration last year issued 487 leases in the Chukchi Sea. Environmental groups sued to stop and have stopped all 487. The administration has a total of 748 leases in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea. How many lawsuits have been filed and how many leases have been challenged in lawsuits? All 748.
Various oil companies in February of 2007 filed exploration plans for 12 separate leases in the Beaufort Sea. How many of the 12 have been challenged? Every single one. The BLM in New Mexico offered for sale 78 leases in New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. How many have been sued? Every single one.
The truth is this problem could be easily solved. If my Democrat colleagues were genuine about wanting to create American jobs, about putting Americans to work and about getting off our dependence on foreign oil, then put reasonable language in the bill that limits lawsuits. We can allow lawsuits. But they don't have to be dilatory. They don't have to be such that no oil will ever be produced. Sadly, the Speaker called our efforts to produce a hoax. If you don't fill the litigation loophole in this bill, this bill is a hoax. And it's not nice to fool the American people, to tell them you're doing something when you know you're not doing anything.
PAID FOR BY JOHN SHADEGG'S FRIENDS
PAID FOR BY JOHN SHADEGG'S FRIENDS
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