By Javier Manjarres
South Florida’s Congressional delegation-minus Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Ted Deutch- attended a congressional sub-committee hearing that addressed the oil drilling that is about to commence off of Florida’s coast with the approval of the Cuban government. The Spanish Oil exploration company Respol, using a Chinese oil drilling platform has been tapped by the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro to drill off the Cuban coastline – roughly about 80 miles from the Florida Keys.
Committee Chairman John Mica (R-FL) addressed the issue at the Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Sunny Isles along with expert witnesses and representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard. The South Florida delegation included Congress members, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Diaz-Balart, David Rivera and Allen West (co-sponsor).
Congressman David Rivera’s Foreign Oil Spill and Liability Act was discussed, an act that would hold Repsol and the Cuban government financially accountable if they were responsible for an oil spill that affected Florida’s coastline. Mica, while supporting the bill, expressed doubts that any legal recourse can be sought against either entity, as any action would likely be outside of the Department of Justice’s legal authority.
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U.S. Coast Guard surrogates were questioned as to their ability to clean up a substantial oil spill in light of President Obama’s recent decision to drastically scale back military spending. The Coast Guard’s representative answered that the U.S. Coast Guard only oversees the work of private sector contractors and has very limited resources available to it in the event of a spill. The representative also stated that Air Force Reserve and Coast Guard aircraft would be available to assist in spraying aerial oil dispersants onto an oil slick.
The South Florida Congressional delegation collectively criticized the Obama administration for its lack of effort in dissuading Respol from contracting with Cuba along with his Administration’s absurd decision to reject the construction of the Keystone Pipeline that would create at least 20,000 new jobs and secure a stable supply of oil from Canada to the U.S.-based refineries.“We need to figure out what we can do to inflict maximum pain, maximum punishment, to bleed Repsol of whatever resources they may have if there’s a potential for a spill that would affect the U.S. coast,” Representative David Rivera, a Florida Republican
But the most pressing concern behind the outcry about Cuban oil drilling is that Cuba is listed as a state sponsor of terrorism and is working closely with terrorist organizations such as FARC, Hezbollah, and the Iranian regime. This oil drilling will lead to slant drilling into U.S. continental shelf and it could very well fuel a nuclear arms race, as Ros-Lehtinen states.
Malaysia’s company, Patronas, in cooperation with Russia state-owned Gaspron, will be the next lease holder to drill for oil in Cuban waters. These are the same companies that helped the Iranian regime develop its energy sector, and by doing so, gave Iran the financial resources to pursue its nuclear weapons program. -Congresswoman Illeana Ros-Lehtinen
We are dealing with a regime that for decades, up to the 1980′, was asking for unilateral nuclear strikes against the United States.- Congressman Diaz-Balart
Congressman Allen West also stated that this pressing national security issue made it “a great time to dust of the Monroe Doctrine.”
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