Senator Bill Nelson on Gulf Restoration after Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm#email

Thank you for contacting me regarding the plans for Gulf restoration after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

On June 15, 2010, the President named Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to develop a plan for Gulf restoration. I have reviewed Secretary
Mabus's report, and I believe many of his recommendations will help the Gulf region and Florida. He recommends repealing liability
caps for deepwater drilling--shortly after the spill, I joined Senators Lautenberg and Menendez to introduce legislation that would
lift the cap on oil companies' liability in spills from $75 million to $10 billion.

In the spill's early days, I wrote the President and urged a moratorium on test wells and other offshore exploratory operations
until a Federal investigation could determine the cause of the spill. The President later banned all new deepwater wells for six
months. Hopefully, we are beginning to understand what went wrong with this well and what can be done to prevent similar incidences
from happening again.

I support funding for scientific research about the impacts this spill will have on the Gulf of Mexico, both now and in the long
term. Florida is home to excellent research institutions that can do this work.

I drafted a proposal to create a Gulf of Mexico Independent Regional Citizens Advisory Council that would oversee exploration,
development, production, and transportation of oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico. I worked closely with the Senate Commerce
Committee to incorporate creation of this commission in both S. 3597, the Securing Health for Ocean Resources and Environment
(SHORE) Act, and S. 3663, the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act of 2010.

You may know that I have opposed drilling off Florida for a long time now. There just isn't enough oil in the eastern Gulf to
justify risking our shores, our natural resources, and the many industries that rely on our coasts and waters and the military
testing and training area off the gulf off Florida. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office
again.

Sincerely,
Senator Bill Nelson

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