STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE EDWARD MARKEY (D-MA)
H.R. 2643, INTERIOR-ENVIRONMENT APPROPRIATIONS BILL FOR FY 2008
JUNE 26, 2007

Madame Speaker, I rise in opposition to any amendments that would strike the longstanding existing moratoria on offshore oil and gas drilling along the East and West Coasts.

When you look at these amendments, you see that they are particularly empty of any promise to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Right now, without these amendments, drilling is already allowed in areas holding roughly 80 percent of the estimated oil and gas resources. In fact, of the 8,000 active leases oil companies hold in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 6,000 have yet to begin producing oil. So if you are worried about making sure that the oil and gas industry has access to the Outer Continental Shelf, stop worrying. They already have more leases than they know what to do with. They have been given the right to drill for the vast majority of oil and gas offshore and are not even producing from the majority of leases they hold in the Gulf. The oil companies should begin producing on the leases they already hold, not looking to acquire new ones in environmentally sensitive areas that do not even have large estimated oil and gas resources.

Moreover, let’s not forget the Republican leadership just rammed through an offshore drilling bill in the waning hours of the last Congress as a going out of business bonanza for big oil. That legislation opened up additional areas in the Gulf of Mexico holding 1.26 billion barrels of oil and 5.83 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. But barely six months later, drilling proponents are back for another bite at the apple, once again attempting to give away our important coastal areas away to Big Oil.

G.O.P still stands for the Gas and Oil Party.

It is highly misleading to suggest that we can solve the problem of our oil dependence or high gas prices with more drilling, when the real answer is not more drilling, but using technology to make our cars and SUVs more energy efficient. After Congress mandated a doubling of fuel economy standards from 13.5 to 27.5 miles per gallon, our dependence on foreign oil went from 46.5% in 1977 to 27% in 1985 but we are now back up to 60%.

We should be making our vehicles more efficient, not giving away our public lands to big oil companies that are making record profits. Soon, this House will have an opportunity to go on Record on the Markey-Platts legislation, which would mandate a 35 mile per gallon combined fleet fuel efficiency standard – an improvement that will allow us to reduce our consumption by roughly the same amount of oil that we currently import from the Persian Gulf by 2022.

I am pleased that the underlying bill once again includes language authored by myself and Mr. Hinchey that would give oil companies a strong incentive to renegotiate the faulty leases from 1998 and 1999. The Government Accountability Office has estimated that these leases could cost the American taxpayers more than $10 billion. The House has gone on record time and time again in overwhelming support of putting real pressure to renegotiate on every company holding these leases. Last year, the House adopted the Markey-Hinchey royalty relief fix that is included in this bill by a vote of 252-165 and earlier this year this body passed the royalty fixes contained in H.R. 6 by a vote of 264-163. It is time to put an end to big oil’s free ride. I urge opposition to any amendments that would open up our coastlines to drilling and strongly support passage of the underlying bill.

Thank you, and I yield back the balance of my time.