Quigley's Opening Statement Before a Judiciary Committee Hearing on the Oil Spill in the Gulf

Today, Congressman Quigley delivered the following remarks before the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to recognize that we're a long panel, so I'll just submit my statement for the record. Just very briefly, I know we're talking about oil today, but in the end, the larger picture is the cost of carbon, the cost of exploration, the cost of using fossil fuels. I mean, today, its oil, but we could also be talking about blowing the tops off of mountains, polluting streams for all-time, making moonscapes out of whole tracts of land in areas out west like Wyoming. We need to recognize that this is part of a larger picture that can only be solved by conservation and by promoting and supporting renewable energy, and that frankly we sometimes don't like to hear this, but you can't have everything you want. There is a cost to driving the biggest car you can buy at 80 miles per hour. We have to recognize that as Americans, have to recognize that conservation is the beginning of this and renewable energy is the end. Thank you.