Schneider Amendment Defending Great Lakes from Oil Drilling Blocked by GOP House

WASHINGTON — Today, Congressman Brad Schneider’s (IL-10) amendment prohibiting oil drilling in the Great Lakes was blocked by House Republicans in a 209-215 vote. Schneider’s amendment would have made clear that America’s Great Lakes were not open for offshore drilling, denying a future Deepwater Horizon-style accident in America’s Great Lakes. The amendment failed in a 209-215 vote.

Video from Schneider’s floor speech is available here, his remarks are available below:

The Great Lakes are a national treasure and a regional economic driver for all of us in the Midwest. The lakes account for more than 90% of our nation’s surface fresh water, and 20% of the surface fresh water on the planet. More than 30 million Americans rely on the Great Lakes for their drinking water. For generations, there has been a deeply held bipartisan consensus on the need to protect the Great Lakes – from invasive species, from environmental challenges, and from irresponsible development. Look no further than the broad, bipartisan support for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

I want to work with my colleagues on making progress to protect our Great Lakes, not open the door, even the slightest crack, for dangerous development. That’s why today I offer and amendment to clearly reiterate our vital protections of these Great Lakes.

My amendment ensures that H.R. 21 would continue the bipartisan consensus that there will be NO exploration, development, or drilling for oil and gas in the Great Lakes.

With nearly 1 in 10 Americans relying on the Great Lakes for drinking water, we must ensure that a disaster like the Deepwater Horizon ever happening in Lake Michigan is not only unfathomable, but impossible.  This amendment ensures that that is the case.

Today, we must say with one unified, bipartisan voice that there will never be drilling in the Great Lakes.

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