Pete Domenici: “That is how big the development for oil for America will be out of this wilderness. Now, anybody who blesses this floor…”

“That is how big the development for oil for America will be out of this wilderness. Now, anybody who blesses this floor piously about preservation is ignoring the reality. America cannot live without oil. I wish we could. Alaska is America. Oil in Alaska is our patrimony, just like oil in Mexico is the patrimony of the Republic of Mexico. To say that using that piece of property--see it. I am not sure our TV cameras are showing it to Americans, that is how big it is. It is now said, that is all you need to drill for oil--to do what?-- to produce as much oil as the State of Texas produces. There are even environmentalists who say, in their literature, it is an irrelevant amount of oil, it is not needed. Well, Madam President, as I crossed America, looking to find comparisons, as soon as I got to Texas, I asked, how much oil is there? They told me, it is almost the exact amount of billions of barrels of reserve as is in this tiny piece of property as big as the properties at Dulles here in Virginia. So if this is irrelevant to America, I assume we should not have drilled in Texas. How much oil might it produce? About the same amount as California per year. I ask Senator Nickles, is one to say California's production is not needed? We are so rich and arrogant about our wealth that we can throw away this huge amount of oil? We don't need it for America?”